Suchergebnisse

1. Introduction: Consumption, Societal Transformations And Everyday Life In Vietnam -- 2. Consumption Transformed: Đổi Mới, New Middle Classes And The Construction Of Consumer Socialism -- 3. Reflexive Individuals And The Political Economy Of Everyday Practices: Theorising Consumption And Capitalist Development -- 4. Wheels Of Change: Motorbikes, Cars And Capitalism -- 5. Food Transformations, Food Cultures And Food Practices In The Socialist Market Economy -- 6. Đổi Mới And The Meatification Of Everyday Food Practices -- 7. Electrifying Development: Consumption Booms And Household Energy Demand -- 8. Conclusions: Consumption, Sustainability And The Political Economy Of Consumer Socialism.

This book studies the dramatic changes in consumption patterns in Vietnam the past decades, combining a focus on everyday practices and societal transformations. Zooming in on the new urban middle classes, and through in-depth case studies in the realms of mobility, food and energy, the book brings new insights to some of the most urgent global sustainability challenges. Based on a decade of research in Vietnam, the book aims to contribute to better understanding one of the most fascinating development success stories in the world. It introduces the term consumer socialism to analyse some of the contradictions embedded in the socialist market economy. Simultaneously, the book aims to contribute to strengthening consumption research in and on emerging economies, and for this purpose develops a theoretical approach combining social practice theory and political economy. Arve Hansen is a researcher at Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, where he leads the centres research on consumption and energy and the Norwegian Network for Asian Studies. His research focuses on consumption and sustainability and the political economy of everyday practices, with a particular interest in Vietnam where he has worked for more than a decade.

Doing fieldwork in countries and cultures different from your own comes with a host of challenges and rewards. This case discusses parts of the research behind my PhD thesis on development, consumption, and mobility in Vietnam's capital city, Hanoi. I focus on the "messiness" of fieldwork and champion the need for researchers and students to adopt a flexible approach to the field. This includes being open to changing research strategies and to questioning theories and other preconceptions. In this case, I also explain how one vehicle, the motorbike, came to play a crucial role in my research, to the extent that I ended up calling my approach a "motorbike ethnography." The case discusses challenges concerning entering the field, collecting data, and dealing with the data, in addition to less commonly treated topics, such as field loneliness. In sum, the case aims not only to inspire students to go out and study the world with an open mind but also to encourage them to keep a structured approach, take notes, and spend much time getting to know local contexts. Real life is immensely complex, and we need to keep this in mind when trying to create better understanding of some small parts of it.

I boken Slava Ukraini! undersøker journalisten Lisa Bjurwald hvordan den russiske aggresjonskrigen oppleves av ukrainske kvinner, hva de tenker om nå- og framtid, og hvor de får sin styrke fra.
In the book Slava Ukraini!, journalist Lisa Bjurwald explores how Ukrainian women experience the Russian war of aggression, what they think about the present and future, and where they draw their strength from.

AbstractAmidst calls for making food systems more sustainable, new unsustainable food transformations unfold alongside economic development. Explanations for unsustainable food transformations in emerging economies vary greatly, but there is widespread agreement that demand from new middle classes play a crucial role. Yet this demand is to a large extent co-created by systems of provision, and middle-class consumers are constantly navigating food transformations in a search for healthy and safe food. Focusing on Vietnam's dramatic food transformations, and combining attention to the political economy of food with a social practice approach to consumption, the paper zooms in on the how middle-class households in Hanoi negotiate the rapid transformations of food systems and food environments. The paper concludes that new thinking on sustainable food systems is urgently needed and argues that vital insights can be gained by studying food practices and their interaction with everyday geographies of consumption.

Amidst calls for making food systems more sustainable, new unsustainable food transformations unfold alongside economic development. Explanations for unsustainable food transformations in emerging economies vary greatly, but there is widespread agreement that demand from new middle classes play a crucial role. Yet this demand is to a large extent co-created by systems of provision, and middle-class consumers are constantly navigating food transformations in a search for healthy and safe food. Focusing on Vietnam's dramatic food transformations, and combining attention to the political economy of food with a social practice approach to consumption, the paper zooms in on the how middle-class households in Hanoi negotiate the rapid transformations of food systems and food environments. The paper concludes that new thinking on sustainable food systems is urgently needed and argues that vital insights can be gained by studying food practices and their interaction with everyday geographies of consumption.

In many capitals, the central public square is the place where people go en masse when they wish to voice their discontent. The squares used for such collective actions are diverse. Each square has its unique combination of symbols and history; they are used in different ways by the public; and they often have distinct physical characteristics. Yet, in social sciences, when determining what makes collective actions successful, space is often overlooked. In this article, I present an approach for analysing public space in relation to mass protests. I then apply this approach to the Belarusian capital Minsk, where virtually no protests have been successful during the post-Soviet period. In what ways are mass protests in Minsk affected by the perceived (symbolic), social and physical elements of the city's public spaces? I examine the centre of Minsk in general, and analyse two central squares in particular. The article is based mainly on qualitative, semi-structured interviews with protesters, observers and opposition leaders; research literature; and on my own fieldwork and experiences from living in Minsk. I conclude that space is contributing to the difficulties facing the Belarusian opposition in several ways. 1) The perceived elements of Minsk and the two main squares do not have a preferable symbolic value to the opposition. 2) The social elements of the city show that the political centre is avoided by the public, thus making protests less noticeable. 3) This latter point is important, given that the physical elements of the squares makes policing particularly easy and swift. The physical elements of the squares also limit the protesters' communication, movement and flexibility. I argue that a spatial perspective should be included in research on collective actions.

In many capitals, the central public square is the place where people go en masse when they wish to voice their discontent. The squares used for such collective actions are diverse. Each square has its unique combination of symbols and history; they are used in different ways by the public; and they often have distinct physical characteristics. Yet, in social sciences, when determining what makes collective actions successful, space is often overlooked.In this article, I present an approach for analysing public space in relation to mass protests. I then apply this approach to the Belarusian capital Minsk, where virtually no protests have been successful during the post-Soviet period. In what ways are mass protests in Minsk affected by the perceived (symbolic), social and physical elements of the city's public spaces? I examine the centre of Minsk in general, and analyse two central squares in particular. The article is based mainly on qualitative, semi-structured interviews with protesters, observers and opposition leaders; research literature; and on my own fieldwork and experiences from living in Minsk.I conclude that space is contributing to the difficulties facing the Belarusian opposition in several ways. 1) The perceived elements of Minsk and the two main squares do not have a preferable symbolic value to the opposition. 2) The social elements of the city show that the political centre is avoided by the public, thus making protests less noticeable. 3) This latter point is important, given that the physical elements of the squares makes policing particularly easy and swift. The physical elements of the squares also limit the protesters' communication, movement and flexibility. I argue that a spatial perspective should be included in research on collective actions.

Much has been said and written about the Ukrainian revolution of 2013–14, yet research on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the protests' most iconic location, has thus far been rather limited. This article analyses the history, attributes and symbolism of this particular city space. What function does Maidan have in the Ukrainian society? In the cause of my fieldwork in Kyiv 2013–15 on the recent revolution, I found that Maidan has many features that make it a particularly suitable site for protests. In the current article I argue that several factors related to the square's physical space, from its location between the religious, historical and political centres of Ukraine, to its proximity to important landmarks, as well as its infrastructure, shape, architecture, and size, make Maidan both a symbolic and a practical space to occupy for people demanding change. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union Maidan has acquired a special significance for Ukrainians. The name of the square itself could be interpreted as a protest against Russia, and the many protests and three revolutions on Maidan have given it a particular revolutionary meaning. I argue that Maidan functions as a socio-political safety valve – a place people turn to and turn up at to demand change when the formal political institutions fail to deliver.
Published: June 2016
Citation: Arve Hansen (2016) «Majdan Nezalezjnosti: symbolikk og funksjon». Nordisk Østforum 30 [2] 118–134. http://dx.doi.org/10.17585/nof.v30.424

Intro -- Figures -- Abbreviations -- A Note on Language -- Foreword -- Preface -- 1 Starting Point -- Part I -- 2 Space in Context -- 2.1 Complexities of Urban Contention -- 2.1.1 Form -- 2.1.2 Motivation -- 2.1.3 Waves -- 2.2 Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia -- 2.3 Relevance -- 3 Mapping the Field -- 3.1 Protests -- 3.1.1 Repertoires -- 3.1.2 Nonviolent Contention -- 3.1.3 Colour Revolutions -- 3.1.4 Non-spatial Factors -- 3.2 Space -- 3.2.1 Public Space -- 3.2.2 Physical Space -- 3.2.3 Contested Spaces -- 3.3 The Gap -- 4 Definitions and Research Questions -- 4.1 What Is a Mass Protest? -- 4.2 What Is Urban Public Space? -- 4.3 Research Questions -- 5 Theorising and Development -- 5.1 Approaches to Theorising -- 5.1.1 Field Work -- 5.1.2 Respondents -- 5.1.3 Mapping -- 5.2 Ethical Considerations -- 5.2.1 Interview Ethics -- 5.2.2 Practical Utility -- 5.3 Geographical Determinism -- 5.4 Conception -- 5.4.1 M.A. Thesis -- 5.4.2 PhD Proposal -- 5.5 Theorising -- 5.5.1 Prestudy -- 5.5.2 Formulating a Theory -- 5.5.3 Transitional Study -- 5.6 Causal Chains -- 5.7 Main Study -- 5.8 Post-test Theorising -- 6 Variables and Methodology -- 6.1 Independent Variables -- 6.1.1 Perceived Elements -- 6.1.2 Physical Elements -- 6.1.3 Social Elements -- 6.2 Intermediary Variables -- 6.2.1 Spatial Qualities -- 6.2.2 The Political Environment -- 6.3 Dependent Variables -- 6.3.1 Emergence -- 6.3.2 Realisation -- 6.3.3 Impact -- Part II -- 7 Prestudy -- 7.1 Physical Space -- 7.1.1 Spatial and Urban History -- 7.1.2 Daily Use -- 7.1.3 Protest Space -- 7.2 Symbolic Value -- 7.2.1 25 Years of Protest -- 7.3 Function -- 7.4 Conclusions -- 8 Transitional Study -- 8.1 A Spatial Perspective -- 8.2 Belarusian Protests from Glasnost' to Lukashenka -- 8.3 Perceived elements -- 8.3.1 October Square -- 8.3.2 Independence Square -- 8.4 Social Elements -- 8.4.1 The Political Centre.

The rise of emerging economies represents a challenge to traditional global power balances and raises the question of how we can combine sustainability with continued economic growth. Understanding this global shift and its impact on the environment is the paramount contemporary challenge for development-oriented researchers and policy makers alike. This book breaks new ground by combining scholarship on the role of emerging economies with research on sustainable development. The book investigates how the development strategies of emerging economies challenge traditional development theory and.

The rapidly escalating production and consumption of meat across the world has drawn much attention in recent years. While mainstream accounts tend to see the phenomenon as driven by 'natural' processes of consumption pattern change through economic development, critical geographies have turned to exploring the uneven capitalist processes underpinning what Tony Weis calls 'meatification'. In Weis' view, meatification unfolds through what he calls 'the industrial grain-oilseed-livestock complex', which is presently becoming a dominant form of agricultural production worldwide. Simultaneously, but less thoroughly investigated in the emerging scholarship, meatification unfolds in and through everyday geographies of consumption that we conceptualize as variegated 'meatscapes'. By bringing together critical geographers' interest in the political economy of meat with practice theory and consumption research, this contribution furthers the geographical dialogue around the spatial transformations brought about by meatification. Looking at Vietnam and China as examples of rapidly meatifying countries, we explore the intersection of macro-scale spatial transformations through trade and commodity flows and, at the micro-scale, transformations in food practices. We thus argue for an approach to meatification that is multi-scalar and conducive to further regionally specific research of meatification in Asia and beyond.