Confronting the Geopolitical Aesthetic: Fredric Jameson,The Perfumed Nightmare and the Perilous Place of Third Cinema

This essay explores the conceptual limitations within Fredric Jameson's notion of the geopolitical aesthetic through an analysis of Jameson's now classic reading of The Perfumed Nightmare; this film is central to his concept of the utopic character of film more generally and, moreover, to his argument on the embeddedness of Third World representations within a global, capitalist system. We suggest that, although Jameson acknowledges the underlying constructed and relational character of ontological categories such as film (despite their reification under capitalism), his theory of historical materialism demands that they also be understood as formed with regard to a socio-economic totality. And, because the recognition of a totality requires a master narrative within which all can be understood and framed within a logic of equivalence, Jameson must by default conceive of epistemology as fundamentally divided between a true and a false consciousness. Taking our own cue from recent developments in anti-essentialist thought, we conceive of such cultural forms as the temporarily fixed embodiment of broader-scale discourses that continually construct and deconstruct the world as we know it, including our understandings of the ‘real’ as well as the ‘economic’, the ‘political’ and the ‘cultural’. In our own re-imagining of The Perfumed Nightmare, we provide a partial response to this, noting how these realms are constituted from the temporary ‘fixing’ of a series of people- and place-based identities, such as those constituted under the rubric of ‘gender’. Accordingly, we re-work the term ‘cognitive mapping’ as the attempt to outline the web of significations within which objects are embedded as well as the concomitant lines of fracture and contradiction that allow for such objects to become meaningful in a host of other contexts.     

Elite governance of agritourism in the Philippines

Abstract

Agritourism, particularly in the West, is imagined to be an organic assembly of family farms driven by urban middle class demand for new rural tourism experiences. In the developing world, it is increasingly advocated as a rural development tool with the promise of uplifting the lives of small farmers in sustainable ways. We challenge the assumption of the farm family at the helm of agritourism development, advocating instead for a more complex understanding of agritourism governance. We argue that agritourism involves multisectoral governance networks that are subject to the political economic realities of where these networks are situated. Thus, agritourism may endure the same social inequalities one would find in other rural development initiatives in the Global South. Agritourism in the Philippines is a case in point. Based on qualitative research, our findings show that agritourism in the Philippines is driven by a complex elite network involving state and private entities that are engaged in patronage politics. The uneven power dynamics associated with this governance arrangement create conditions that favor old and new landed elites and exclude marginalized small farmers, contradicting any official statement that promises inclusive rural development.     

The development of an optimal multiple channel strategy model for travel agencies' tourism business excellence

Research explaining how respective reasons for multiple channel strategies emerge in the travel agency industry is lacking. The study addresses this problem by considering internal organizing motivations and external environment uncertainties, exploring prevalent channel selection and performance techniques, and setting up indices for an optimal channel strategy model useful to travel agencies. From qualitative in-depth interviews with 15 experts and quantitative surveys of 304 travel agencies, we found that environmental uncertainty and organizational motivation crucially affect the intention of multiple channel selection that results in expected channel performance. There is an imperative need for Taiwan's travel agency industry to have a multiple channel strategy model.     

High-growth versus declining firms: the differential impact of human capital and R&D

We provide evidence that both human capital and R&D increase the likelihood that a firm will be a high-growth firm in the industry. However, different from human capital, being an R&D active firm also increases the probability of substantial decline or failure, underscoring the risky nature of innovation. Quantile regression results show that, different from R&D, human capital is growth-enhancing for all firms, hence also those located in the lower quantiles of the distribution of growth rates across firms.     

Metcalfe’s law: not so wrong after all

Briscoe et al. IEEE Spectrum, 43(7), 34–39 (2006) claim that Metcalfe’s law is “wrong”. One of their arguments is that “if Metcalfe’s Law were true, then two networks ought to interconnect regardless of their relative sizes”. This paper shows that this argument is flawed.     

Top-floor discounts in residential buildings: Evidence from South Korea

This study assesses the phenomenon of resale price discounts for top-floor units of residential buildings, or “top-floor discounts.” Using 1.9 million resale transactions of apartment units from South Korea, we find that top-floor discounts range from 1.3% to 8.3% of resale prices. We hypothesize that top-floor discounts exist because of larger heating/cooling costs for these units relative to those on lower levels, resulting from relatively more extreme variation in indoor temperatures unique to top-floor apartment units. Using a household-level survey data on energy consumption and exploiting variations in weather conditions and roof material across time and regions throughout South Korea, we provide evidence in support of our hypothesis.     

Graduate employment: Does the type of higher education institution matter?

The paper analyses whether the type of institution from which students graduate has an impact on their unemployment propensity. It uses official data on the Portuguese higher education system, for 2018, at the program/institution level, which provides information on graduate unemployment, as well as demographic and socioeconomic background information. A fractional probit model on graduates’ propensity for unemployment is estimated. Results suggest that polytechnic graduates face higher unemployment propensity than university graduates, maintaining inequalities present in students’ previous trajectories. Policies targeting socioeconomic segregation need to address not only access to higher education but also the transition to the labor market.