Suchergebnisse

Abstract: The early modern period was "the great age of pearls." Portraits of rulers, aristocrats and elites in both Europe and Asia show the abundant use of pearls in jewellery and clothing. Sought after for their lustre and their symbolism, pearls were a marine material transformed into the most astonishing works of ornamentation. Yet, pearls were also a natural resource produced by oysters harvested by the millions from the warm tropical waters of the Americas and the Indian Ocean. The case of pearl fishing off the coast of Venezuela in the early sixteenth century by the Spanish, highlights two factors: first, the intense fishing of pearls that led to their depletion, and second, the concomitant exploitation of enslaved divers. Technology – both the organisation of labour and the tools used in pearl fishing – depleted the resource rather than protecting or enhancing it. This article argues, however, that the so-called "curse of the commons" – the idea that when a number of people have unchecked access to a finite resource, they will tend to overexploit it – is not fate. A second case study – that of the Dutch East India Company's pearl fishing in the Gulf of Mannar in the seventeenth century – presents a different understanding of pearls as a resource, one that emphasises profitability over time. The article uses the concepts of "simultaneous" and "sequential" games from economics in arguing that technology can be both a repository of processes and a tool of destruction.

Este escrito considera el papel de los artefactos en el estudio histórico de la vestimenta y la moda y sugiere la existencia de tres enfoques diferentes: primero, el campo de la historia de la vestimenta y el traje tiene una larga tradición que se remonta al siglo XIX. Adopta las metodologías de la historia del arte y considera los artefactos como un elemento central del análisis de diferentes períodos y temas. En segundo lugar, en la generación pasada, algunos interpretaron el surgimiento de los estudios de moda como un distanciamiento de los artefactos. Sin embargo, los estudios de moda aportaron rigor teórico y adoptaron una metodología de análisis deductiva en la que los artefactos desempeñan una función importante. Finalmente, propongo lo que llamó la: cultura material de la moda, una metodología híbrida tomada de la antropología y la arqueología en la que el objeto es central para el estudio de las prácticas sociales, culturales y económicas específicas del tiempo. El artículo concluye con una reflexión sobre los desafíos y recompensas de tal enfoque.

In the current debate on European policies in the field of employment the concept of flexicurity plays a predominant role as a form of balance between the need for flexibility of employers and the need for safety of workers.Certification of skills is part of the active policies that favour processesof flexicurity. However, the active policies should not only be understood as a simple type of compensatory social protection for a flexible labour force, but also aimed at supporting the empowerment and capabilities of the subject. ; Nell'ambito dell'attuale dibattito europeo sulle politiche in materia di occupazione ricopre un ruolo predominante il concetto di flexicurity, quale forma di equilibrio tra il bisogno di flessibilità dei datori di lavoro e il bisogno di sicurezza dei lavoratori. La certificazione delle competenze si iscrive tra le politiche attive che favorisco processi di flexicurity. Tuttavia le politiche attive non devono essere intese solo come semplice protezione sociale di tipo compensatorio per una forza lavoro flessibile, bensì orientati a sostenere anche l'empowerment del soggetto e le sue capacità.

It has been several years since the certification of skills became one of the policies of the European Community. Individual Member States have taken the concept of skill as a criterion of innovation because it is considered capable of dealing with both the theoretical and operational aspects and to connect such policies on education, training and employment. This paper aims to address the role of skills in institutional changes with regard to the terms of a new social model and for what concerns the higher education systems. ; Da diversi anni ormai la certificazione delle competenze rientra tra lepolitiche comunitarie. I singoli Stati membri hanno assunto come criterio di innovazione il concetto di competenza perché ritenuto capace di affrontare insieme gli aspetti sia operativi sia teorici e di connettersi cosi nelle politiche dell'istruzione, formazione e del lavoro. Il saggio intende affrontare il ruolo delle competenze nei cambiamenti istituzionali sia per quanto riguarda un nuovo modello sociale sia per quanto concerne i sistemi di istruzione superiore.

The theme of "skills certification" is nowadays becoming part of EU State's policies for education, training and employment – as long as they realize the Lisbon strategy, hence creating policies which aim at renew many systems, including the educational one. Such a "model" of innovation opposes Italian school system with an unavoidable change. This is so not only because it is required by EU but also because the school has to take hold again of its publicfunctions – having been lost the latter due to a decrease in skills and quality.Here emerges the need for a re-definition and the re-activation of a secondary education system which could be able to integrate a wide range of opportunities given by the contemporary formal and informal ways of learning.Only by doing this, the education system will be able to satisfy EU's "invitation": that of creating new formative systems. Hence, the role of the teacher gains a fundamental character within the new path of education.The purpose of my contribution is that of addressing the implications that "skill certification," and its consequent definition of integrated school system, has on professional teachers involved in the organization of teaching and learning processes. ; Il tema della "certificazione delle competenze" sta entrando a pieno titolo nelle politiche educative, formative ed occupazionali di tutti gli Stati membri dell'Unione Europea in attuazione della strategia di Lisbona con conseguente messa a punto di policy tese ad innovare interi sistemi compreso quello scolastico. Questo "modello" di innovazione pone pertanto il sistema scolastico italiano di fronte ad un cambiamento dal quale non si potrà più tornare indietro, non tanto perché ce lo chiede l'Europa bensì perché la scuola deve non solo riappropriarsi delle proprie funzioni istituzionali che sta lentamente, ma inesorabilmente, perdendo dequalificandosi, ma soprattutto perché vi è la necessità e l'urgenza di definire e rendere operativo un sistema di formazione secondaria che integri al suo interno tutta ...

Why did subcontracting remain, well until the end of the nineteenth century, a viable way to organize metropolitan manufacturing? This article addresses historically and theoretically the reasons for the permanence of subcontracting as a viable alternative to centralized forms of production in London. It also questions the literature that equates the decline of subcontracting with the rise of sweating and argues for a reinterpretation of traditional explanations that saw the "sweater" as a central figure in the "degeneration" of the metropolitan productive system. The article concludes by proposing a reinterpretation of the "decline of subcontracting" and argues that the logic of flexibility of subcontracting was challenged by the increasing power of London wholesalers and retailers and the demands offin-de-sièclemass consumption.