[Asia_news] Human Geography Seminars
Timothy Sharp
timothy.sharp at anu.edu.au
Thu Oct 19 09:56:39 EST 2006
Monday, 23 October, 2006
3.30pm - 5.00pm, Seminar Room C, Coombs Building
Michelle Carnegie
PhD Candidate
Department of Human Geography
Re-thinking economic dynamics: contingent livelihoods of sailor-traders in Rote
In this seminar I explore the rapidly transforming livelihoods of
small-scale sailor-traders in Rote, Eastern Indonesia. I theorise
their economic practices as overdetermined as opposed to being shaped
by the unfolding logics of state projects and market forces. This
kind of theorising cannot assume a priori that sailor-traders are
co-opted, or too small or powerless in the face of macro-economic and
environmental challenges. I interpret sailor-traders as operating in
a differentiated economic landscape that offers freedom and
opportunity as well as constraint. Some of the economic dynamics that
have changed their livelihoods over the past few decades include new
technologies, nationalisation, geopolitical regulation,
cooperativisation, the redrawing of borders, monopolisation, new
export market niches and currency fluctuations. These multiple
dynamics have not produced a uni-linear effect causing a more
immiserated situation. Rather, the outcomes are often unexpected,
with unintended feedback loops, and causality moving in different
directions, instigated by different actors. Two current threats such
as depleting natural resources and increased competition in trade
invoke a challenge for the future sustainability of sailing-trading
livelihoods. I conclude by exploring how a community economy approach
might be fostered to assist in overcoming such vulnerabilities.
Convenor
Kersty Hobson
Department of Human Geography, Research School of Pacific & Asian Studies
Email: kersty.hobson at anu.edu.au
Tel: 612 54344
Sandra Davenport
Department of Human Geography
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 Australia
Tel: +61-2-612-52205; Fax: +61-2-6257 1893
http://rspas.anu.edu.au/humgeog/
ANU CRICOS Provider Number 00120C
Department of Human Geography
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University
ACT 0200
Phone: (02) 61252233
Email: timothy.sharp at anu.edu.au
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