diverse economies multiple futures
TRANSCRIPT
DIVERSE ECONOMIES AND MULTIPLE FUTURES
MOTHERS, MIGRANTS, AND MINORITIES IN XINING, QINGHAI
DR KELLY DOMBROSKI
INTRODUCTION
My research project: Mothers and the Economy in Northwest China (fieldwork 2006-2009)
DIVERSE ECONOMIES IN CHINA
Project outputs relevant to this forum:•Book Chapter: With Oona Morrow, forthcoming, ‘Enacting post-capitalist politics through the sites and practices of social reproduction’ in K. Meehan and K. Strauss (eds) Precarious Worlds: New Geographies of Social Reproduction (University of Georgia Press, 2013).•PhD Thesis: 2012, Babies’ Bottoms for a Better World: Hygiene, Modernities and Social Change in Northwest China and Australasia. Available via University of Western Sydney library.•Article: 2011, ‘Embodying Research: Maternal bodies, fieldwork, and knowledge production in northwest China’ Graduate Journal of Asia Pacific Studies Vol 7(2):19-29.•Book Chapter: 2011 ‘Awkward engagements in mothering: Embodying and experimenting in northwest China’ in Michelle Walks and Naomi McPherson (eds) An Anthropology of Mothering, Demeter Press: Toronto.
Diverse EconomiesRethinking Economy
Transactions
Labour Enterprise
Market Wage Capital ist
Alternative Market
Alternative Paid
Alternative Capital ist
Nonmarket Unpaid Noncapital ist
Transactions
Labour Enterprise
Market Wage Capital ist
Alternative Market
Alternative Paid
Alternative Capital ist
Nonmarket Unpaid Noncapital ist
TRANSACTIONS LABOUR ENTERPRISEMarket Wage CapitalistAlternative MarketSale of public goodsEthical “fair-trade” marketsLocal trading systemsAlternative currenciesUnderground marketCo-op exchangeInformal marketsBarter
Alternative paidCooperativeSelf-employedReciprocal labourIn-kindWork for welfareIndentured
Alternative capitalistNonprofitState enterpriseGreen capitalistSocially responsible firm
NonmarketHousehold flowsGift-givingState AllocationsState appropriationsGleaningHunting fishing gatheringTheft/poachingIndigenous exchange
UnpaidHouseworkFamily CareNeighbourhood workSelf-provisioning LabourVolunteerSlave Labour
NoncapitalistCommunalFeudalIndependentSlave
Source: Gibson-Graham 2006:71
Rethinking Economy
DIVERSE ECONOMIES FRAMEWORK
CONTEXT – WOMEN’S LIVES IN NORTHWEST CHINA
‘The recognition of women’s productive potential appears to have been achieved at the expense of appreciation for their unpaid work within the household’ (Kabeer, 1994: 26).
DIVERSE ECONOMIES AS RESEARCH METHOD
TRANSACTIONS LABOUR ENTERPRISEMarket Wage CapitalistAlternative MarketSale of public goodsEthical “fair-trade” marketsLocal trading systemsAlternative currenciesUnderground marketCo-op exchangeInformal marketsBarter
Alternative paidCooperativeSelf-employedReciprocal labourIn-kindWork for welfareIndentured
Alternative capitalistNonprofitState enterpriseGreen capitalistSocially responsible firm
NonmarketHousehold flowsGift-givingState AllocationsState appropriationsGleaningHunting fishing gatheringTheft/poachingIndigenous exchange
UnpaidHouseworkFamily CareNeighbourhood workSelf-provisioning LabourVolunteerSlave Labour
NoncapitalistCommunalFeudalIndependentSlave
Source: Gibson-Graham 2006:71
Rethinking EconomyDIVERSE ECONOMIES AS RESEARCH
METHOD
I sometimes think of social science as being a bit like coming up with constellations in the night sky.
You step out under this vast sky and there are thousands of stars. The human brain picks out 8 of them, and turns them into a stick figure, and calls it Orion. The issue is not only that some people get out there and say ‘hey that is not a mighty hunter, it’s a saucepan!’
It is also that once some one has taught you the constellations, each time you step under the night sky, you look for that constellation. There are millions and millions of stars. But our minds will gravitate to trying to find those eight stars, and will focus on them, filtering everything else out.
Lindy Edwards, at the Sydney Writer’s Festival 2007
CONSTELLATION
COSMOS
TRANSACTIONS LABOUR ENTERPRISEMarket Wage CapitalistAlternative MarketSale of public goodsEthical “fair-trade” marketsLocal trading systemsAlternative currenciesUnderground marketCo-op exchangeInformal marketsBarter
Alternative paidCooperativeSelf-employedReciprocal labourIn-kindWork for welfareIndentured
Alternative capitalistNonprofitState enterpriseGreen capitalistSocially responsible firm
NonmarketHousehold flowsGift-givingState AllocationsState appropriationsGleaningHunting fishing gatheringTheft/poachingIndigenous exchange
UnpaidHouseworkFamily CareNeighbourhood workSelf-provisioning LabourVolunteerSlave Labour
NoncapitalistCommunalFeudalIndependentSlave
Source: Gibson-Graham 2006:71
Rethinking EconomyDIVERSE ECONOMIES AS RESEARCH
METHOD
ON THE STREET - METHODS
ON THE STREET - RESULTS
ON THE STREET - RESULTS
ON THE STREET - RESULTSTRANSACTIONS LABOUR ENTERPRISEMarket Wage CapitalistAlternative MarketSale of public goodsEthical “fair-trade” marketsLocal trading systemsAlternative currenciesUnderground marketCo-op exchangeInformal marketsBarter
Alternative paidCooperativeSelf-employedReciprocal labourIn-kindWork for welfareIndentured
Alternative capitalistNonprofitState enterpriseGreen capitalistSocially responsible firm
NonmarketHousehold flowsGift-givingState AllocationsState appropriationsGleaningHunting fishing gatheringTheft/poachingIndigenous exchange
UnpaidHouseworkFamily CareNeighbourhood workSelf-provisioning LabourVolunteerSlave Labour
NoncapitalistCommunalFeudalIndependentSlave
TRANSACTIONS LABOUR ENTERPRISEMarketConsumer of market goods, including babycare services and productsPaying for birth-related services such as scans, c-sections, doctor’s fees
WageInformal waged workers
CapitalistCo-owners of teahouse uptown
Alternative Market Alternative Paid Alternative CapitalistInformal marketPurchase of fruit, vegetables, and meat from ‘back of the truck’ street stallsHiring of poor relatives or friends for below market wagesBlack marketCurrency exchange on black market
Self-employedSmall one-woman stallsBack of the bike businessesIn-kindHousing provided in boss-relative’s home or shop Goods given as part of payment
Family-owned enterpriseNoodle house owned by two sister-in-laws who employ much of their extended family
NonmarketHousehold flowsSharing household labour with other family membersBreastfeeding childrenGift-givingGiving gifts to friends, colleagues and family, sometimes to cultivate guanxi.State allocationsSpace for marketplace, toilets providedState appropriationsFamily land in the country appropriated by state for miningBarterBetween stall-holders and suppliers
UnpaidHouseworkCooking, cleaning, washing clothes for householdFamily careOf children and elderly relativesInfant toiletingSelf-provisioning labourPreserving VolunteerAt church, mosque and templeCare of others’ children
Non-capitalistIndependentBack of the bike businessStallholdersButcher-mothersFeudalFamily operates as economic unit, with obligatory childcare roles for husband’s mother. Family members may be expected to contribute to family or patriarch-owned businesses for free.
ON THE STREET – RESULTS & ANALYSIS
• Ethnographic thick description, informed by diverse economies
• Diverse economies of production and reproduction• Spaces of production and reproduction often one and the
same• Mothers and grandmothers performing care work and
productive labour simultaneously• Minority and marginalised women making choices about
their productive labour based on their care preferences• Valuing and reframing women’s work (both productive and
reproductive) as important.
THE WORKSHOP - METHODS
NEEDS/PROBLEMS MAP
THE WORKSHOP - METHODS
ASSETS MAP
THE WORKSHOP - RESULTS
THE WORKSHOP - RESULTSTRANSACTIONS LABOUR ENTERPRISEMarket Wage CapitalistAlternative MarketSale of public goodsEthical “fair-trade” marketsLocal trading systemsAlternative currenciesUnderground marketCo-op exchangeInformal marketsBarter
Alternative paidCooperativeSelf-employedReciprocal labourIn-kindWork for welfareIndentured
Alternative capitalistNonprofitState enterpriseGreen capitalistSocially responsible firm
NonmarketHousehold flowsGift-givingState AllocationsState appropriationsGleaningHunting fishing gatheringTheft/poachingIndigenous exchange
UnpaidHouseworkFamily CareNeighbourhood workSelf-provisioning LabourVolunteerSlave Labour
NoncapitalistCommunalFeudalIndependentSlave
TRANSACTIONS经济事务
LABOUR劳动
ENTERPRISE企业
MarketConsumers of industrial products
WageSome teachers
CapitalistSome city restaurants
Alternative Market Sale of public goodsWild herbs, mushroomsInformal marketsSale of surplus vegetables, eggs, milkServices: flour milling, noodle makingBarterExchange of goods between households
Alternative paid CooperativeGreenhouse businessesMingban (untrained teacher) paid by communityAhong (Imam) paid by communitySelf-employedSale of surplus vegetables, eggs, milkServices: flour milling, noodle makingReciprocal labourFarmwork, BuildingIn-kindZu ren (village representative) gets free trips but no pay
Alternative capitalistNonprofitLoan paid back to NGO for greenhouses (no interest?)
NonmarketState AllocationsLand, flour, road, schools, help with greenhouse businessesNGO assistanceLiteracy programmeAlmsgivingGiving to mosque and poorIndigenous exchangeWeddingsFunerals
UnpaidHouseworkFamily CareWomen and elderly care for children. Women care for elderly and sick.Self-provisioning LabourPerformed by whole familyVolunteerVillage committees, mosque committeesroad maintenance
NoncapitalistCommunalFarming, housework, childcareCooperative banking systemFeudalInstances of forced giving to mosque
THE WORKSHOP – RESULTS FOR COMMUNITY?
• NGO and volunteers became more interested in social enterprise, looking outside the aid model and outside the microfinance model.
• NGO and volunteers planned to do similar exercises with villages.
THE WORKSHOP – RESULTS FOR PARTICIPANTS
• Performative aspect – enacting a change in perspective allowing multiple futures to be imagined.
• Performative aspect – enacting a change in attitude towards villagers’ abilities
• Practical considerations – e.g. changing ‘no flush toilets’ to ‘humanure’
• Practical considerations – set of tools to use in the field. Useful for grant proposals.
• Practical considerations – actual mapped out ‘evidence’ of what is already happening
USING D.E. METHODS WITH MOTHERS
In China/Qinghai:– Fitting in with busy daily routines (time issue)– Interviewing in the workplace (limits group
activities)– Interviewing in the xiaoqu/courtyard (casual
approach)– My children in the field– Dislike of ‘real research’, preference for casual
conversation– Ongoing relationships over time
MULTIPLE REALITIES/MULTIPLE FUTURES
MULTIPLE REALITIES/MULTIPLE FUTURES
• Moving from ‘constellation’ to ‘cosmos’• Enacting research that opens possibility• Working with where people are at, to enact
different kinds of futures• From ‘not much capitalism’ to ‘much more than
capitalism’. A post-capitalist politics?• Learning from ‘out-of-the-way’ peoples and
places– Shaping our production around our ‘reproduction’?