A Review on the Chapters of The Problematization of Poverty: The Tale of Three Worlds and Development and Economics and the Space of Development: Tale

Summary
The article delved into 2 chapters of the book by Escobar (1995); the chapters of The Problimitization of Poverty: The Tale of Three Worlds and Development and the Economics and the Space of Development: Tales of Growth and Capital. The first chapter talked about the ‘discovery’ of mass poverty in the post-World War II period in the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It talked about the historical development of poverty on a global scale and the invention of development strategies during the different periods to ‘eradicate’ poverty. Of course, the type of development being promoted is the instigation of the ideas and expectations of the Western countries on what a normal course of evolution and progress should be.

It went on to discuss the historical factors of development in terms of economic progress, its definition, and institutionalization wherein development became the object of study, the ‘scientification’ of development in different levels bringing with it the politics of knowledge and the arguments issued on the failure or success of strategies and programs employed by development groups and institutions. Such development strategies are believed to ‘normalize’ the ‘abnormal’ world with the presence of poverty. Several examples were presented in the article on the nature of poverty found and the discourses of approaches and interventions employed to change the existing social systems and the range of poverty found.

The previous chapter is a take-off point for the second chapter on the economics of development. It brings about the use of development economics to achieve growth and capital – the mirrors of economic success and modernity. It started with the discussion on the definition of economics followed by the presentation of discourses on various economic theories and models from classical to modern. But this is not just about the rhetoric of economic. The author went to discuss economics of culture in terms of the historical constructions of the economy, economy as a cultural force, practices that emerged as a result of these constructions and the consequences of such constructions. It includes the discussion on the ‘capacity of people to model their own behavior and reproduce forms of discourse that contribute to the social and cultural domination effected through forms of representation’.

The author proposed a re-thinking on what development is in the perspective of the economy on two levels, (1) to accept that there is a plurality of models with the inclusion of local constructions and (2) to have a theory on the mechanisms that take place in the local and global arena given the dynamics of the local forms and the global system of economic and cultural production. He further stated that a global economy must be understood as a decentered system taking into account the ways in which local group participates in the complex process and how the most exploitative mechanisms of capitalism can be avoided.

Critique and Reflection
In the guise of humanitarian concern, there emerged ‘new forms of power and control,’ of which those that were supposed to be ‘beneficiaries’ – the poor, became the target and playing field of the different agencies for development. The tale of massive poverty created a myth that indeed, the ‘third world’ is a third world – the inferior, the underdeveloped, the ignorant. As it is, along with the aids are economic exploitation of rich natural resources and indigenous knowledge.

More than the discussion of the different development approaches, theories and sophisticated models, the point that can be drawn from the article is the biases incurred in social enterprises, carried over and over with the changing dynamics of the world. The introduction of new concepts of the West to the ‘underdeveloped’ nations, in the guise of awareness-raising or knowledge –building is a unilinear point of view of what a ‘normal’ world should be. This fails to account that before the conquest of the West and the massive exploitation that occurred making the rich richer and the poor poorer, people were living according to the way of life that is normal to them.

As a way to re-contextual development, it should take into account local models to represent people’s construction of development. Certainly, this is an interpretative way of seeing it and to the hardcore scientist, this is unacceptable. ‘It takes the ‘subjects’ as agents of self-definition whose practice is shaped by their self-understanding.’ But this should truly be the perspective of development agencies in their implementation of changes in the local setting, if indeed the local system needs an overhaul. Connecting this with the article on human rights, this is a way of respecting their capability for self-determination. The involvement of the people, their inclusion to the different stages of program implementation, taking into account their own descriptions and use it a starting point for any agenda may that be for social research or for any development undertakings.

Source: Escubar, A (1995). Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

A Review on a Human Rights-based Approach to Development in UNDP

Children’s Rights in Human Rights

In today’s development work, the focus of the different development agencies is basically on the inclusion of people’s participation in the decisions and process that affects their lives in the implementation of programs. This is where the subject of human rights comes in. With the definition of human rights as moral norms, standards of accountability and weapons in the struggle of social justice, human rights provide a way of ‘empowering all people to make decisions about their own lives rather than being passive subjects of choices made on their behalf’.

The article delved into the discussion of the approach used by UNDP – the Human Rights-based Approach in their development programming that focus on development goals, ownership, and sustainability. Human rights-based approach is considered as a ‘holistic framework to enrich operational strategies in key areas’. The value lies in the transformative potential to alleviate injustice, inequality and poverty. It provides a vision of what development should strive to achieve and a set of human rights standards and principles. ‘It translates people’s needs into rights, recognizing the human persons the active subject and claim-holder’. This approach is strongly advocated by UNDP in the application of development programming to their UN partners, bilateral donors and major civil society organizations.

The approach is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that includes the succeeding legally binding human rights conventions or treaties that were ratified by member countries, namely; (1) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, (2) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, (3) Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and (4) Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As was introduced above, a set of human rights-principles are of particular relevance for UNDP programming. These are (1) universality & indivisibility, (2) equality & nondiscrimination, (3) participation & inclusion, and (4) accountability & rule of law. These are considered to be minimum requirements in development assistance programming.

In the programming process, it was discussed in the article that human rights values, standards and principles should pervade in all aspects and phases, from the assessment, analysis, planning, implementation up to the monitoring and evaluation. Thus, the human rights programming is a continuing process in all its phases, having clear and appropriate indicators, and highlighting the meaningful participation of the people. However, the UNDP human rights programming can only be translated in the country-level through the participation of the government and other civil organizations.

With the extensive presentation on human rights-based programming, I would like to zero in on the specific context on children’s rights in the application of human rights-based approach. The human rights-based approach is the guide used by most child agencies; government-led agencies such as DSWD, CWC as well as local and international NGOs for children. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) serves as standards in the implementation of any programs and projects intended for the well-being and overall development of children, keeping in mind the four broad rights of children – rights for survival, development, protection and participation.

Being a signatory on the UNCRC, the Philippine government is expected to adopt the ratified document in the implementation of programs and projects for children. This is manifested by the creation of local laws for the protection of children stipulated in the UNCRC. RA 7610 (Special protection of children against child abuse, exploitation and discrimination) and RA 9262 (Punishes violence against women and their children) are examples of country level adoption of the UNCRC. Municipal mandates and barangay ordinances for children gives further credence in the functionality of created laws implemented down to the grass root level where the children are found. Inclusion of people’s meaningful participation and maintaining a strong partnership with NGOs like child sponsorship agencies that are present in the locality is crucial for sustainability and operationalization of human rights-based programming.

To conclude, the human rights-based approach in development promotes the well-being and dignity of all people in all walks of life. It recognizes the stake of the people in tackling poverty and vulnerability. It facilitates the claim for equal access in the alleviation of poverty, inequality, and injustice. However, the approach needs the cooperation of the LGUs in the strict implementation and adherence to locally mandated ordinances.

An Article Review on Femininity and Sexual Agency Among Young Unmarried Women in Hanoi by Trang Quach

In the transitional phase of development in contemporary urban Vietnam, young unmarried women are struggling between liberal sexuality and conservative values and norms regarding women’s sexual roles and practices. However, women constantly negotiate and renegotiate in the construction of sexual identities and subjectivities.

On one hand, women’s views of female sexuality are seen to be constrained by the conservative social construction of femininity of which their bodies is seen as ‘body-for-others’. Young women are perceived as lacking agency to make decisions about their sexual lives. This is manifested in disinterest in sex and passivity in sexual encounters. Sexuality is seen as a commodity that is of value to men and this includes putting great weight on female virginity.

On the other hand, young women try to exercise their agency through multiple competing discourses on femininity and sexuality. In here, the ‘body-for-self’ is central in the embodiment of female sexuality. This is exacerbated by globalization and the rapid social and economic development of Vietnam that provided unmarried educated women with many previously unavailable opportunities and lifestyles that compete with conventional gender roles. Young women, for example, are engage in pre-marital sex and consider sexual relations between unmarried couples as natural.

Aiming to maintain their position of ‘authority’, these women may successfully transform their bodies to ‘body-for-self’, but it is likely possible that they also maintain the ‘body-for-others’ in order to protect their honour in the eyes of society. Sexuality is seen as part of woman’s ‘self’ that is not always only passively determined by men. As such, sexuality is a right, free from coercion and exploitation that serves ‘body-for-self’. However, women can make their bodies a ‘body-for-self’ by using them in ‘culturally expected ways though participation in sexual activity and reproduction, thereby, acquiring personal honour.

In the eyes of society, ‘body-for-self’ is a problem and a target for social condemnation. Health policies and programmes in Vietnam regarded sexuality of young unmarried women as problematic because of the high risk of pregnancy and abortion. Pre-marital sex is a societal taboo. This makes it difficult for young people, especially women, to acknowledge their own sexuality and also for policy-makers and program managers to respond to their needs. Thus, exercising their agency to enjoy sexual pleasure and achieve sexual health well-being is difficult in this situation.

The social construction of feminine sexuality, ‘body-for-others’, may be used to serve young women’s sexual desire as ‘body-for-self’. Through sexual manipulation, ‘body-for-others’, which is controlled by social and cultural expectations of feminine sexual identities, may be used to negotiate their sexuality. These negotiations and re-negotiations emphasize the ability to have ‘choices’ in the context of social construction of femininity in a transitional society.

A Review of Verena Stolcke’s Article: Is Sex to Gender as Race to Ethnicity?

Rootedness of Inequality in an Unequal World

In the article, the author tried to analyze the relation of sex and gender and made a comparison if it is the same with race and ethnicity. She tried to explore the discussions about social inequalities’ legitimization by its rootedness to natural differences legitimization. She presented different arguments that support the above statement and those that are against it.

Taking off from Pascal’s (1670, quoted by Levi-Strauss, 1985) point that the ‘natural facts may turn out to be cultural constructs’ and Moore’s analysis that ‘racism divides gender identity and experience and how class is shaped by gender and race,’ the author wants to investigate the intersections between gender, race and class.

She started by looking at the historical background of the transformation of concepts like sex as a biological fact to gender which is a cultural construct, the socially defined relationships between women and men. Shapiro (1981), Collier and Yanagisako (1987), have greatly influence the idea of the author. The gender theory presented was actually to challenge the biological essentialisms and at the same time touches other ‘inequalities such as race and class and their intersection’.

According to Collier and Yanagisako (1987,) as quoted by the author and I quote: ‘we argue against the notion that cross-cultural variations in gender categories and inequalities are merely diverse elaborations and extensions of the same natural fact.’ McDonald (1989) went on further and stated that views on natural facts, ‘biology and physiology, are socio-political conceptualizations’.

With her discussion on sex and gender, she related this with class, race and ethnicity. Race as a derogatory term and used to legitimate racial prejudice and discrimination was replaced by concepts of ethnicity or ethnic groups as a sense of cultural identity. However, it was pointed out in the article that, indeed, the substitution of terms ‘does not transform social reality’. The shift has two implications. As the author said, (1) it downplay or side-step prevailing racism of discriminations and exclusions, and (2)race as a distinct phenomena. Linked to it is the term xenophobia, widely being used in the European political realm, as a cover up for racism.

Is sex to gender as race is to ethnicity? The author tried to explain her answer with the posed question. Her proposition is that it holds through in class society, a society of that is unequal and contradictory. ‘Social and gender inequalities are construed and legitimized by rooting them in the assumed biological facts of race and sex differences.’ She concluded that it is an illusion and an ideological trap that socio-economic success only depends on the goodwill and effort of the individual. She further stated that this diverts attention from the true causes of inequality and unequal access to power and property. With the economic and political ideologies on the naturalness of social conditions, women’s experiences of oppression in a class society is also a manifestation of these belief.

Thinking it over, I agree with the analysis of the author that relegating social inequalities as a natural fact perpetuates inequality of opportunities. This is glaring in the third world and developing countries. Attentions are diverted to nonsensical private affairs of actors and politicians to mask the real issues on the staggering weight of inequality and oppression of those in the lower economic status, of women, of children, of workers and laborers. Shortcuts to success are broadcasted in radios and televisions – the likes of Manny Pacquio, actors’ rise from poverty, parades of individuals who won in million peso game shows – this are cover ups of the harsh social realities that are not being resolved. ‘Success by sheer individual endeavor.’ These words are prevalent in media and are frequently painted in business magazines and books. Yet it holds true that even with the best individual efforts, such difficulties being experienced in the attainment of success is also embedded in social inequality and unequal access to resources.

A Review on Religious Fundamentalism and the Globalization of Intolerance of Sandu Frunza

Summary
The author made a historical account on how religious fundamentalism came about. He started with the secularization of identity. Through modernity, he said, religious principle was substituted by modern ideologies that lead to the ‘secularized shaping of the world.’ Series of mythologies was created of which one is the ‘mythology of Communism’ to disenchant religion.

He delved into the arguments of Feuerbach, Marx and Lenin on religion, particularly Christian religion, as an ideology that presents a distorted reality. As it is, religion is described as an instrument to oppress people, the working class. This Marxist opposition to religion, as explained by the author, is an attempt to use non-transcendent principles to affect changes in the world. The ideals of the working class is seen as a strong basis for the construction of human identity. Fruza used the case of Marxism to describe the effects of modernity in identity reconstruction by deconstructing religion.

After his discussion on the secularization of identity using the Marxist case, Fruza made a connection on identity crisis and global rebirth of religious movements in the onset of modernity. He believes that the individual and the society have an involvement’ in the process of cultural and religious rebirth’.

He presented the theory of Huntington on ‘the clash of civilizations’ that causes the decline of ideologies. However, Frunza believed otherwise. He said that ‘the new movements that arise on the structure of the great religions are more like religious ideologies that they are like spiritual rebirth movements.’

To clearly distinguish religion and ideological religion, he went on to speak about fundamentalism. He presented the definition of Silberstein that fundamentalism is a mental construct. But he is more inclined with the idea of Marty and Appleby’s ‘family traits of fundamentalism’. These debunk Huntington’s idea that inter-religious conflict does not have ideological features. He showed 2 aspects of fundamentalist movement that supports such claim, 1) the negation of every relativity of specific knowledge to the fundamentalist movement, 2) and refusal to accept any integration or assimilation for relativism. He also identified sources of the negation and refusal – an individual source and a social source.

Finally, the author made assertions to define and characterize fundamentalism. He listed down seven reasons that assert the vitality of fundamentalism in the context of modernity and globalization. He concluded that ‘fundamentalism has a large variety of form from different cultural contexts and religious doctrines’. Moreover, he emphasized that ‘in the context of globalization, conflict between the ideological order and fundamentalist religions follows the opposing polarity of the local becoming global and the global following the trace of the local’.

Critique and Reflections
I would like to start with the discourse whether religion is theological or anthropological, I say, when religion is objectified, then it is considered an anthropological study, or even a philosophical one. Religion is considered as a representation of the imaginary and unreal existence. But, when religion or ideas in each religion or sect is consciously learned and practiced, then it is theological.

Frunza presented the views of Feuerbach, Marx & Lenin wherein they believe that religion as an ideology is being used as a tool for exploitation. Religion, they say, is a tool for exploitation by bourgeois – the ruling class to the proletariats – the working class. With the author’s presentation of Feuerbach, Marx & Lenin’s stand on religion, it clearly presented how these advocates use materialism to explain everything, even those considered as ideological.

On the other hand, spirituality is by faith. It is not by what one sees, by what one hears, literally, but by faith – the belief of the unseen. It may be true that in the earlier periods of the century, religion is used as such. Yet it should not also be used a cause for the curtailment of beliefs, religious convictions. From then on, there are changes that happened, not just in the economic or political arena, but in the socio-cultural area as well, and this includes religion or religious beliefs.

Conviction, belief or faith should also be seen not just on the collective, but also on the personal level. Even in each religion, the Christian religion for example, there are still differences on the understanding and interpretations of the doctrines or principles of Christianity. Fundamentalism, indeed, is a religious idea. However, every fundamentalist movement has a different idea of what spiritual ‘rebirth’ is.

On the remark of Huntington that the non-westerns, the ‘non-civilized people are incapable of producing ideologies,’ I personally find that offensive. It is indeed a positivist view of the West as superior over the other cultures. This is a much distorted view of people’s capabilities and ignorance of cultural differentiations.

Overall, the article provided a comprehensive account on fundamentalism with the discussion of its traits and features. Fundamentalism was presented in a way that it is a malleable structure with its integration to the larger global structure and at the same time, the conflict that arises with its push-and-pull relation to ideological constructs.

National Geographic: The Rooting of Peoples and the Territorialization of National Identity among Scholars and Refugees by Lisa H. Malkki

Summary
In the article, Malkki (1992) talked about rootedness in relation to identity and territorialization. It deals with the exploration of ‘identity and territory that are reflected in ordinary language, national discourses, scholarly studies of nations, nationalism and refugees.’

She started with the concept of nation and comparing it with the anthropological concept of culture. That of the ‘national geographic ‘ map wherein nations are seen as fixed in space and of anthropologists’ spacial arrangement of ‘peoples and cultures, wherein the concept of space are segmented. This connection between nation and culture is metaphysical in a sense that ‘culture is something that exists in soil’. There is an emotional tie to the soil. Such definition confines or incarcerates the ‘natives’ or ‘indigenous’ of the land in a space of immobility. ‘Spacial incarceration of the native is conceived as highly valued rooting of ‘peoples’ and ‘cultures’ that is simultaneously moral and literally botanical, or ecological.

According to the author, territorialization is associated with sedentarism that is reflected in language and in social practice. Sedentarism, hence, territorializes cultural or national identities. On the other side of the line is that of territorial displacement. Terms of transplantation and uprootendness was discussed as subject of displacement. Transplantation that means picking up roots in an orderly manner that evokes live, viable roots, thereby, acclimatization to the foreign soil is possible. Uprooting is the opposite, wherein broken and dangling roots happen, a loss of moral and emotional bearings. Movement of people is either ‘through desire or through violence’.

In the preceding discussions, Malkki (1992) summarized four points: (1) the world of nations tends to be conceived as discrete spacial partitioning of territory, (2) the relations of people to place tend to be naturalized in discursive and other practices, (3) the concept of culture has many points of connection with that of the nation and is likewise thought to be rooted in concrete localities, and (4) the naturalization of links between people and place lead to a vision of displacement as pathological and uprootedness.

After summarizing her points, Malkki (1992) used the field research in rural, western Tanzania among Hutu refugees who fled Burundi due to the genocidal massacres that took place to delve on the issue of uprootedness. Uprootedness is best seen with the discussion of how displaced group of people living in different situations define their identity. She painted a detailed comparison of the Hutu refugees who have lived in a refugee camp and those who have lived outside the refugee camp in Tanzania, ‘examining ways in which they construct, remember, and lay claim to particular places as homelands or nations.

Finally, the author pointed out two opposing positions in her paper. On one side is between sedentarism and displacement, and on the other side, between ‘the nationals’ and ‘the cosmopolitans’ in exile in Tanzania. She concluded that ‘deterritorialization and identity are linked and that identity is seen as always mobile and processual. Attachments, she said, are formed though living in, remembering, and imagining them’.

Critique and Reflection
On Malkki’s (1992) discussion of identity and territory, it was indicated that ‘people are chronically mobile and routinely displaced, inventing homes and homelands in the absence of territorial, national bases through memories of and claims on places that they can or will no longer inhabit’. This is true of those who are away from the land of their birth and has difficulties going back because of circumstances they are in. In the case of the Hutu refugees, those who lived in the isolated camp have strong ties to Burundi, their country of origin. On their minds, they see their plight as temporary and the end goal is to go back to their ‘native’ land, having a heroized national identity. Those who lived outside of the camp, the town refugees, however, assimilated themselves to township life, creating a ‘lively cosmopolitanism’.

Such discussion of rootedness and uprootedness is somewhat similar to Blanc’s (2000) discussion in her article on Balikbayan: A Filipino Extension of the National Imaginary and of State boundaries. After the historical account of the definition and redefinition of ‘Balikbayan’ over time and the role of the government in the transformations, citizenship is being redefined to include the feeling of belongingness. In the redefinition, it will include those who migrated to foreign soil, giving them rights in their country of origin. As such, the Philippines state deterritorialized the nation – belongingness and loyalty but not that of the state – entitlements and responsibilities.

As with the balikbayans, the plight of refugees is likened to such forceful uprooting. In the local arena, we have our own refugees. The persistent conflict in Mindanao also generates displacement of people, of being taken away from their lands and source of livelihood, and thereby promoting not only psychological stress and anxiety but the onset of poverty and hunger. People being interviewed on TV speak of their displacement and desire for peace to be able to go back to their lands and start anew.

Indeed, the onset of globalization and transnational milieu allow people to leave their own countries through desire or economic reasons and establish themselves in the host foreign countries. Yet, despite being away from their ‘homelands,’ they were able to create their own identity and at the same time assimilate themselves in the new place. Transplantation and uprootedness from their country of origin does not mean cutting all relations. As a matter of fact, nation-states, groups and the people themselves create venues and possibilities to bridge their connection to their ‘homelands’ not necessarily by physical travel but by other means such as technological gadgets and forming groups and associations.

A Review on the Article of James Putzel on Globalization, Liberalization, and Prospects for the State

Summary
The author started with his discussion on the debates of globalization and liberalization in the historical context, the debates on why globalization works and does not work. He referred to the discourse as ‘liberal globalization’ since what is talked about is on the integration of economic activities driven by technological changes and policy changes. He divided champions of globalization into two groups, that of those ‘who are promoting policies of economic liberalization’ and those following the ideas of Anthony Giddens (1998) on the ‘creative possibilities of globalization and the ‘rise of the new individualism.’ Both groups have shared skepticism of the ‘state.’

Interestingly, it was pointed out by Putzel (2005) that ‘there are no historical examples of development occurring under the conditions of openness and liberalization as promoted by the international development community.’ Accelerated growth has required state involvement, control over the allocation of foreign exchange, and subsidies and protection for infant industries’ (Chang in Putzel, 2005).

Putzel (2005) discussed further the ‘relationship of liberalization and the processes of state collapse.’ Along with the spread of globalization are the conflicts within countries such as what happened in Africa. To control territories through patronage, repression is used by many state leaders. This resulted to economic crises. Due to pressure for structural adjustment and liberalization, states were forced to change centralized forms of economic management as they were confronted by demands to private assets, open import markets and create conditions for democratic governance. This is not an easy task considering the historical conditions but needs to be done to maintain a semblance of state authority.

‘The removal of trade barriers combined with the relaxation of state control over foreign exchange in the developing countries provided sub-national and non-state actors access to international markets’ promoting the sale and purchase of illegal goods and promotion of ‘expanded smuggling leading to declines in revenue’ (Putzel, 2005). This pattern leads to increase violent conflicts with the ineffectiveness of the state to impose regulatory measures. Apart form state weakness that leads to state collapse, it was also pointed out that conflicts are reinforced by the unequal distribution of income and political power between groups.

However, there is some unease in concluding collapsed states in the onset of globalization patterns and liberalization. Discourse between ‘state collapse’ and ‘state in crisis’ were tackled in consideration with the ‘wider prospects for political change.’ The author went on to discuss examples of what he refers to as ‘crisis states’ to have a better understanding on the ‘impact of liberalizing trends on politics in the developing world.’ In the event where the state collapses, reconstruction is engaged to start reform. The author suggested that ‘attention to problems on horizontal inequalities through semi-democratic or semi-authoritarian means’ is to be employed.

Views and Reflections
Globalization is, indeed, inevitable. Yet in some ways, it became an instrument for capitalism. It widens the gap between the rich nations and the poor nations in terms of economic growth. Those who are technically and industrially capable equipped to raid the resources of developing countries do so. In the end, even its own resources are owned by the developed countries. Examples are the mineral mines managed by transnational corporations in our country. Another is of indigenous knowledge patented by bio-prospectors for their own gains.

The discussion on ‘horizontal inequality’ or unequal distribution of income and political power between groups are glaring in the Philippine context. Those who are in power are also those who have the means to exploit resources intended for all and use their authority to amass wealth and maintain their positions.

I would like to relate the discussion of Putzel (2005) in his article to the decisions made by governing authorities of our country. Using it as a basis, it questions the promotion of the government on de-regulation, importation of products, open market and free trade. With these features of capitalism accelerated by globalization, small industries and entrepreneurial businesses of our country cannot compete with the deluge of import products. As a result, they die. Economic profit gains go to foreign corporations. Taxes imposed by the government are just minute of the bulk of transnational corporation profits from the lower wage, rents and abundance of local resources.

Another point to consider is the rise of influence of religious organizations in the Philippines is not an advantage. In fact, it has a ‘corrosive effect’ as Putzel (2005) puts it. Politicians are elected because of endorsements from religious sectors, from the Catholics, the El Shaddai, to the Iglesia ni Cristo. They try to convince these groups to vote for them. In the end, who are being placed in power are politicians who are not supposed to be in the office and incapable to reform and boost the socio-economic state of the country. This is also true when it comes to the passing of laws such as the recent uproar on reproductive health care bill.

What I gained from the article is that, the state should have the backbone to take charge for economic transformation in the changing global world. This can be done by, first, ‘examining the political requirements for economic reform’ and, second, to consider the potential impact of reforms on the structural practice of politics. As a reflection, there were blunders in approving ‘detrimental’ bills and discarding ‘useful’ bills over the years. These include executive orders that were proven to be defective. They were not examined thoroughly in terms of economic and socio-political implications.

If and when our country and the leaders of this country want to achieve economic growth and poverty alleviation of its citizens, the state should be involved. What I mean with the involvement of the state is in terms of the changes in policies that promote poverty and economic stagnancy or impede economic growth, control over import-export system, protection and subsidies for small industries or businesses. However, this can only be realized when the government is strong and able to exercise its legitimacy accordingly.

Concepts and Transformations of Indigenous Knowledge in the World of Intellectual Property Rights, Laws and Agreements

A Review on the Articles of Darrell Addison Posey and Roy Ellen & Holly Harris

Summary
Posey (2000) started with his discussion on the importance of indigenous knowledge (IK) or Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). He explained that IK was used for advancing hypotheses and enriching scientific knowledge, conservation of development projects and was employed in the ‘shift from implementing top-down management to community-based participation.’ The author also reiterated that IK is not a compilation of facts but is holistic, evolving and used in different aspects of contemporary life. He went on to defend that IK is used in the ‘sustainable utilization of natural resources and these are embodied in traditional livelihood systems’ based on historical evidence. The sustainable utilization of traditional livelihood systems is referred by the author as ‘conservation ethic’ of indigenous systems.

Despite the importance of IK, Posey (2000) pointed out the inability of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) to protect the IK systems in the traditional communities. IPR, which is supposedly ‘a mechanism for equitable sharing and protection,’ only protect the economic interest of individuals in western societies. As such, the author persuades those studying IK to develop alternative methods. He proposed a ‘rights-based Traditional Resource Rights concept as a catalyst to transform conflict into conciliation.’

The discussion of Posey (2000) is much related to Ellen & Harris (2000) article on indigenous and environmental knowledge and its transformation. They went on to expound IK and its characteristics, historical evidence of IK collection to support the advancement of western science and technology by means of decontextualization. Arguments were presented on the recognition of local knowledge. Positivists wanted to make it universal by eliminating ‘imperfection and subjectivism.’ Post-modernism asserted the view of relativism. Neologism, on the other hand, emphasized mixing local and global to which Robertson (1996) termed as ‘glocal.’ With these wrangles, the authors considered the existence of universal reasoning but believed that these should be ‘activated and experienced in different contexts.’

Critique and Reflection
Increasing interest to IK leads to finding means to protect indigenous and local knowledge. This is directed to the realization that IPR exploits local communities and resources within. IPR, which is supposedly a legal system for ‘equitable sharing and protection,’ is only for those who have the means to avail of it. Biodiversity prospecting, or rather biopiracy at times, of pharmaceutical companies and other private institutions use IPR as a clot to exploit traditional local knowledge and publish such for their gain. This is not surprising, at the least, since IPR is a creation of the west. Thus, intentionally or unintentionally, it favours industrialized nations rather than bioculturally rich developing nations.

Going back to the discussion of Ellen & Harris (2000), the sophisticated advancement of European medicine is the product of long history of bioprospecting. It is with concern that although the intention is good for the provision of medical cures for their people, on one hand, it is the exploitation of traditional societies, on the other hand. I find it comical that western scientists hold IK in low esteem when the medical and scientific knowledge they have is the product of a long history of pirating traditional knowledge. In the guise of fieldwork to accumulate local knowledge and convert it into scientific knowledge, western scientists, thereby, misrepresent the context of which IK or TEK came from.

With the discussion on whether local knowledge should be transformed into global knowledge, I go with the idea that what makes IK significant is its relativity and its application is still embedded in the local because of the meanings attached to it. The trial and error methods applied by the locals in coming up with traditional knowledge is a test of unwavering belief to devise something that has to do in maintaining harmonious relationship to nature and the supernatural.

Question
There is a line at the end of the article of Ellen & Harris (2000) that I find questionable. It says, ‘Indigenous knowledge is dead.’ If the statement is really what is intended, then it defeats the rest of the arguments posted in the article. In fact, it would be deemed pointless. I am wondering if there is a missing word there, the ‘not’ before ‘dead.’ Such a minute word but it implies an opposite standpoint. Optimistically, it was just unintentionally overlooked.

An Article Review of Stanley Tambiah’s Politics of Ethnicity

The author outlined ethnicity as a possibility for mobilization for political action as opposed to mobilization of both social class and nation state. Ethnic groups try to assert and ‘exercise preferential or affirmative policies on the basis of majority status.’ Tambiah (1989) presented various explanations. One is that majority have become conscious of the role of collective ethnic identity to be manipulated in political action, with the ‘improvement of transport, quick adoption and deployment of modern media, raised levels of education and literacy, and spread of ‘print capitalism’ borrowed from Benedict Anderson (1983). The second is ‘the proliferation and popularization of street theaters and public arenas,’ as venues for staging political rallies, demonstrations and protests. Such occurrences are simultaneously taking place with population explosion and migration from the rural to the metropolitan. Another is the ‘proliferation of schools, colleges, and universities for the mobilization and massing of activists for engaging in political action.’

Parallel to the politicization of ethnicity is the explosion of ethnic conflict, particularly in the newly independent countries. Tambiah (1989) cited various examples that support this claim. He presented a distribution chart that indicated demographic combinations: (1) countries that are homogeneous in ethnic composition, (2) countries that have a dominant ethnic majority, (3) countries that constitute a large ethnic group and having several “minority” groups, (4) countries that have two large dominant groups of the same size, (5) and pluralistic countries composed of many ethnic groups where no one or two are dominant. The above context, along with the colonial legacy of ‘particularizing and standardizing policies,’ intentionally or unintentionally, promoted ethnic divisiveness and conflict.

The politicization of ethnicity reinforce the internationalization of violence exacerbated by technological advancements ‘making us all vicarious spectators and participants responding with our sympathies and our prejudices,’ Tambiah (1989:433). The author proposed 3 overlapping scenarios of contemporary ethnic conflict. One is the erosion of niche equilibrium of a particular group with the inclusion of other ethnic groups of an otherwise ‘closed’ industry. This leads to the possible displacement or dispossession of the ‘specialized minority’. Another scenario is the domination of the majorities to satellite minorities in the periphery that leads the ethnic minorities to be potential secessionists. The third is the threat for retaliations and counteractions attempts to subordinate unranked and equal groups and to incorporate them unequally as inferior citizens.

Tambiah reiterated that ‘there is a universalizing and homogenizing trend’ that makes people of contemporary societies and countries alike by wanting the same material and social benefits of modernization.’ On the other hand, these people assert their claim to be different based on their ascriptive identity, linguistic difference, ethnic membership, and rights to the soil, and, they wanted that such differences ‘should be basis for the distribution of modern benefits and rewards.’

I was given an insight on the historical analogy on ethnicity and a picture of ethnic distributions to establish the existence of ethnic groups and the conditions why these groups are easily politicized. I support the stand of the author that, indeed, colonization has a part in the conception of ethnic conflict.

Along with modernization and progress, the concept of ethnicity is still changing and given new meanings and categories. Constant reinvention of labels and boundaries takes effect. Observations of these times reveal ethnic conflict coupled with the violence that comes with, of which, is inimical for the state and the people. Yet, these actions are inevitable and mechanisms are useful to cope with such times.

A Comparative Review on the Methods Used in the Studies on Sexuality Among Young Women

To have a better comparison in the use of quantitative and qualitative research, I compared two studies on sexuality. One is the article on “Femininity and Sexual Agency Among Young Unmarried Women in Hanoi” by Quach (2008) and the other is on “Young Women's Degree of Control Over First Intercourse: An Exploratory Analysis” by Abma et al. (1998). There are quite a few citations from the articles that I have included to establish and clearly recognize the difference between the methods used by the authors.

The first article used qualitative method in the study on sexuality of young professional women of Hanoi. Purposive sampling was applied to identify the participants of the study. It was mentioned in the article that ‘a snowball method’ was used, but ‘attention was paid to the diversity of sexual experiences and social background of the key person’ (Quach 2008: 152) to avoid a ‘single social network’. Along with it, the participants were chosen according to a set of criteria as follows: (1) they were not legally married before the time of interview but had had boyfriend(s)/girlfriend(s); (2) their ages ranged from 25-34 years; (3) they were educated women, who had completed undergraduate study at least; (4) they were working and financially independent. The author used narrative analysis in ‘examining processes of negotiation and re-negotiation in the construction of sexual identities and subjectivities’ (Quach 2008: 152).

Quach (2008) mentioned that the 13 respondents were interviewed several times to have an in-depth understanding of sexual experiences and meanings. Quotes from them were included in the article. The incorporation of ‘voices’ established the participants’ perspectives on their experiences adding richness to the study.

Abma et al. (1998), on the other hand, employed quantitative technique in their study. A survey is made periodically by the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) of the US and this is where the data was obtained. It was mentioned that the ‘probability sample is 10,847 non-institutionalized women aged 15-44 in the civilian population’. A rating scale of 1-10 was used to rate the wantedness of the participants’ first premarital intercourse. A Statistical procedure was used to explain the results. In the study, a ‘Logistic regression analysis of data for women aged 15-24 was performed to test the effect of background factors and wantedness scores on contraceptive use at voluntary first intercourse. Analysis, however, was restricted to the 2,933 women aged 15-24 at the time of the survey.’

There was an attempt to delve into the relativity of first time intercourse experience with Black women and Hispanic women as the authors oversampled to, according to them, ‘facilitate the analysis of many phenomena within these racial and ethnic groups’ (Abma et. Al (1998). Yet, such inclusion, including the large number of respondents from the teenager and young adult groups, was not sufficient to have an in-depth relative analysis of the groups because of the limitations of a structured survey questionnaire that the interviewers used to gather the data. In the analysis portion, percentages and correlation of variables were used. This, in effect, is a generalization of the results. Interpretation of responses using the rating scale of wantedness did not give a space for individual analysis of perceptions and meanings of the responses, although the authors recognized such limitations in the end.


References:

Abma, J., Driscoll, A., & Moore, K. (1998, January/February). Family Planning Perspectives Volume 30, Number 1. Retrieved July 17, 2008 from http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3001298.pdf

Aggleton, P (2008) Culture, Health and Sexuality. An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care, Volume 10, Supplement ISSN: 1369-1058. London, Routledge, June 2008, pp 151-161.

An Article Review of Ajun Appadurai’s Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy

In the article, the author discussed the disjunctures on the general theory of global cultural processes. He used 5 dimensions of global cultural flows to explain the disjuctures, namely, the ethnoscapes that constitutes “the shifting world in which we live”, the technoscapes to be “the global configuration of technology that moves at high speeds across various kinds of previously impervious boundaries”, the financescapes to mean “the disposition of global capital that is more mysterious, rapid, and difficult to follow”, the mediascapes that refer to “the distribution of the electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate information”, and the ideoscapes that are “concatenations of images that are directly political and that have to do with the ideologies of states and counterideologies of movements”.

Appadurai proposed the “dynamics of global cultural systems as driven by the relationships among flows of persons, technologies, finance, information, and ideology.” He argued that these set of terms, these dynamic flows, intersect and overlap creating instability and disjuncture in patterns of globalization leading to the complex interactions between relationships of difference and sameness that are context-dependent.

On the specifics, the author talked about the “the tension on cultural homogenization and cultural heterogenization.” He critiqued the idea of “Americanization” of Filipinos arguing that “the United States is no longer the puppeteer of a world system of images but is only one node of a complex transnational construction of imaginary landscapes.” He discussed the idea of “imagined worlds” similar to Benedict Anderson’s “imagined communities” to argue that we live in a universe of multiple imagined worlds that are constituted by “historically situated imaginations of persons and groups spread across the globe.”

Appadurai connected his idea of cultural flows to deterritorialization. That deterritorialization is “one of the central forces of the modern world.” It creates a venue, termed by the author as “new markets,” for the things that constitute the characteristics of the different “landscapes” such as film, art, travel, food, clothing to meet the desires of deterritorialized populations for contact with their homelands.

With the author’s discussion on the politics of global cultural flows centered on “Americanization”, I was struck with the term he borrowed from Fredric Jameson, the “nostalgia for the present,” of “nostalgia without memory.” This is in reference to Filipinos’ affinity for American popular music. In the context of CAR, this can be observed by the country music heard being played by a friend, a neighboring house, in bars, radio stations, even the audio tapes played over and over again when riding a bus along Halsema H-way. Indeed, the contents of such songs are not the history of a local person, but the playing of such songs invokes nostalgia to that person picturing a somewhat similar experience. All the same, it is the nostalgia of a past that that will remain to be a memory. Whether it is an “Americanization” or otherwise, the point is, such scenario is subsumed in the “imagination as a social practice in the global cultural processes.”

The arguments in the article are somewhat similar to the views of Mathews on the “global cultural supermarket.” Having arrays of choices, and easy access to most through technology and public media, it breaks the distinction of other people in other places. This leads to having a global identity that transcends cultural identity through the different global cultural processes that transcends national boundaries.

An Article Review on the” Global Culture/Individual Identity” of Gordon Mathews

It is the proposition of the author to combine the opposing definition of culture, the culture as “the way of life of a people” and the culture as “the information and identities available from the global cultural supermarket.” The first definition alludes to “culture shaped by the state and the second one refers to “culture shaped by the market.” He went on to discuss the theory on cultural shaping of self and then investigated the questions on cultural identity.

I agree with the idea of the author that both definitions of culture are problematic in the presence of expanding diversity, interrelations and the arrays of choices. It is sad to note that at present culture is reduced to “a matter of personal taste,” a mere picking from the wide variety of choices. Although, as mentioned in the article, the freedom to choose is curtailed by factors in the social world such as class, gender, age, economic status and nationality.

Going deeper on the idea of culture shaped by the state, the author implied that culture is manipulated and may even be invented by the state to justify its existence. For its legitimization, the education and media is used to facilitate and shape nationalism or having a national identity, when before such claim, there is no such thing as a nation, only groups. However, there is a resurgence of ethnicity and ethnic identity that may pose as a threat to the identity of the nation as a whole, though; this is insignificant to the strength of market identity of the cultural supermarket. Compared with the forceful exploitation of the state, the manipulation of the cultural supermarket is more of seduction with the glitters of advertising. In a way, it is a subtle way of persuasion that is difficult to refuse.

In the author’s discussion of “cultural shaping of self,” he mentioned three levels; the deep shaping, middle-level shaping and the shallow shaping. It is the distinction of actions done “without thinking,” actions done “because you have to,” and actions done “because you choose to,” respectively. He linked these to the definitions of culture, in which he categorized the 2 deepest levels of the self’s cultural shaping to be under culture as “the way of life of a people,” and the shallowest level is under culture as “the global cultural supermarket.”

He made an exception, though, for those in the upper economic strata wherein, it is the realm of the cultural supermarket that is taken for granted because of the notion that one is free to choose. Accordingly, the two contradictory principles discussed in the article, that of the state and that of the market, is not seen as contradictory by most affluent people because it is in the taken-for-granted level, that of the shallow stage.

Retracing Mathews’ discussion in the limitation of our choices based on the make-up of our social world, I think this is a precursor to having a global identity that transcends national or cultural identity. Having arrays of seductive choices, and easy access to most, it breaks the distinction of other people in other places. But, this may also be detrimental in a sense that it may lead to the slow but cannot be stopped erosion of acknowledging roots and history. Except, of course, for those who chose to leave and migrate to other countries and still consider themselves Filipinos, acknowledging that this is their home country.

I find the article refreshing to read and I agree to most of the discussions. The bias I saw, though, is how the author chose his respondents for his study. He chose only “those of the elite in their societies, and in the world.” This is with the positivist assumption that “their struggles resonate throughout their societies.” I just want to point out that there should have been a balance of getting both the perspectives of what the author consider as the “intellectual and economic elites” and what he consider as “less well-off people in their societies and in the world.”

Reflections and Insights on the Article by Lincoln and Guba on the Paradigmatic Controversies, Contradictions, and Emerging Confluences

How the authors presented their views is appreciated with the displayed openness/accommodation in their presentation of the different paradigms, despite mentioning their position in the earlier passage of the article. The fact that they accommodated other paradigms such as the participatory paradigm, despite their outright stand of being constructivists, it indicates that the proposition holds a bearing in social research. Although it cannot be denied that participatory paradigm is much nearer to constructivism that the authors allude to.

To help comprehend and give credit to what I suppose is the paradigm/s I am inclined to, I would like to include my insights or biases on some of the controversies discussed in the reading. I would like to start with the inclusion of values in social inquiry. With the increasing interest of researchers to the interpretative realm of human behavior with socio-cultural interaction, new paradigm inquirers are moving away from the clinical, faceless, emotionless state of research to the inclusion of spirituality and spiritual concerns. The move towards the so-called subjective realm creates issues between paradigms.

With the issue on commensurability, It was mentioned in the article that, “social phenomena are consist of the meaning-making activities of groups and individuals” (Guba and Lincoln, 2000). As such, social inquiry is consists of understanding the meaning-making activities happening. The authors believe that there is the possibility of ‘confluence,’ of ‘shifting boundaries of paradigms,’ the ‘blurring of genres.’ And so different methodologies can be used, depending to what is responsive to the problem. With this in mind, there should be no issue on commensurability.

The second issue raised is on the role of action in research. It is interesting to note that hard-line positivists believe actions as ‘taints’ in research outputs. On this matter, I would be inclined to side with post-positivists that actions are part and parcel of research results and process (Guba and Lincoln, 2000). Studying social phenomena is different from analyzing natural occurrences. Actions of people are fluid. It varies from one to another, from time to time. Thus, it is hard to generalize results as opposed to the static and consistent results drawn from molecules or mathematical equations for that matter. Nuances and peculiarities will always surface in the study of social phenomena that question the validity of results when employing positivist’s axioms as yardstick.

Another controversy is regarding control. When control means participants having active role, of communities taking control of their futures, of actions controlled by community members, this should be seen as a good thing since it promotes social development. It also reiterates that knowledge cannot be separated from the knower as opposed to the positivist’s view of a taint-free objectivity.

This leads to the issue on reality coupled with validity. Of whether reality is an entity outside human experiences that are tested using absolute criteria, or whether knowers are not separate from objective reality. Contradictions on foundational, antifoundational or nonfoundational perspectives of truth and knowledge are currently of discussion in the social sciences. Arguments on the application of rigorous scientific method against the use of interpretative processes are taking place. Yet, it seems that views under new paradigms already surpass explanations against the foundational view of reality.

In terms of voice, reflexivity, and postmodern textual representation, the struggle is on whose voice is being heard. Is it of the author, of the respondents or of the inclusion of the self? This holds true with reflexivity. Different categories of the selves were mentioned by Reinharz (1997) in the text, the research-based selves, brought selves and the situationally created selves. It is a discussion on reflecting and questioning oneself in the process of social inquiry/data gathering, a subjective action yet fruitful in terms of application. Voice is also linked with textual representation, the “messy texts” of Marcus & Fisher (1996) mentioned in the article. However, such texts seek to break boundaries, to decentralize and focus inquiries on human experience, at the same time freedom to choose alternatives in doing social inquiry. In addition, such representations, is not necessarily for the sole purpose of academic arguments, but are utilized and are applicable for the consumption of the non-academic audiences or in the context of which the research result was based.

Following the discussions in the article, I would say that I would ascribe to constructivism and participatory paradigm. However, this inclination does not mean ruling out positivist view and other paradigms. Depending on the kind of research there is, ascribing to rigorous scientific method and/or interpretative process can be used. In the search for understanding human behavior, different method of inquiries can be employed.

The Changing Nature of Anthropological Knowledge - Moore (1996)

In the article, “The changing nature of anthropological knowledge,” the fist point Moore (1996) wanted to raise was on the question of who produces knowledge. According to her, there was a call for the re-evaluation of the actor’s point of view as an offshoot of post-modernism and there is a demand to recognize positionality and location. Local people have been recognized as producers of local knowledge. However, outside the local context, such knowledge is sidelined and considered not comparative with the dominant and recognized western theories. To the critics of post-modernism, this was exacerbated with the idea that all theories, other than those produced by western science, are partial and local. Still deconstructionism maintains that “all theories are partial and there is no distinction between local theories of anthropologist and those of people being studied”, (Moore, 1996). The major issue is the ongoing politics on how anthropologists treat each other. What is conveyed is that theories produced outside the mainstream western framework are considered to be partial and not comparative.

The second point in the article is an offshoot of the first. It involves a critical review of African and western theories and interpretations to expand the possibilities for future knowledge production. This starts with the non-recognition of African philosophy by western academic institutions. This also holds true with third world and feminist theories. According to Moore, it reiterates the failure to recognize some groups of people in the world as producers of knowledge. Despite clashing discourses among African scholars on how African philosophy is based, the issue is the failure of non-African scholars to recognize the historical and political aspect on searching for identity and authenticity. The relationship between knowledge and power remain bound up with questions of individual subjectivity and collective identity, (Moore, 1996).

However, it would be a mistake to say that giving opportunity to the local and specific, and refuting totalizing theory entails prohibition to comparative thinking. Anthropology should recognize that local knowledge does not constitute closed systems, that they are incapable of self-reflection and auto-critique. Local knowledge can also be part of the wider set of political economy and the social sciences and can be compared outside the local field.

Moore pointed out a third consideration, that of the role of science and technology in the transformation of anthropological knowledge. She floated the idea of ‘technologized selves’, not a singular, self-contained entity, but a participating, relational one. Although the description of ‘selves’ as the conglomeration of ‘parts’, aside from being human, is a complicated description, the breach of technology to culture or social relations is indeed at hand. With technology, the self is not constricted to specific locations but it permeates and extents beyond physical borders. It is a way for other people to be acknowledged as producers of knowledge, albeit in the technological field, that is comparative and global. In a way, it facilitates everyone to be producers of knowledge and jump-starts people’s transformation and line of enquiry.

The fourth idea in the article is on the production of knowledge in the margins. The emphasis is on the perspectives from the ‘periphery’ with the recognition that knowledge works differently in different locations, and that constant change happen in such domains, as well as on power relations in the production of theories. Moore (1996) reiterated that production of knowledge is simultaneously local and global. With the transformation is the rise of social movements and interest groups that are empowered, generating and transmitting analytic knowledge.

Lastly is on Foucault’s concept of governmentality as an object of anthropological enquiry in the local and comparative scope. According to him, the government is connected with the knowledge of all the processes related to the political economy of the state. What is being discussed is the impact of governmentality on social practices, social institutions, discourses (such as moral and ethical debates) and rationalities on a given context. This includes rationalities in the international setting and local bodies. Rationalities, as described by Moore, are forms and techniques of knowledge that tie people into processes of modern living in which they are forced to participate directly or indirectly. All are involved in the techniques of government, from those who are engaged in development, to the producers of knowledge, to those who teach the complex processes of knowledge in different circumstances.

Summarizing the points raised by Moore, there is a need to transform how anthropological knowledge is defined and applied. Producers of knowledge whether that is outside the western realm of thinking or not has to be considered. This include the onset of technology accelerating the changes, and the notion of governmentality as object of anthropological enquiry.

As such, a degree of openness has to be employed in understanding the processes behind the transformation of knowledge. Despite conflicting discourses, highlighted is the involvement of all in the rationality of knowledge. Everyone is touch and transformed by it, one way or another, may that be in the local or global scale.