CiteULike: toivotuo's library [103 articles]

Crude Chronicles: Indigenous Politics, Multinational Oil, and Neoliberalism in Ecuador (American Encounters/Global Interactions)

Suzana Sawyer — 2008-06-27T18:07:00-00:00

Ecuador is the third-largest foreign supplier of crude oil to the western United States. As the source of this oil, the Ecuadorian Amazon has borne the far-reaching social and environmental consequences of a growing U.S. demand for petroleum and the dynamics of economic globalization it necessitates._ Crude Chronicles_ traces the emergence during the 1990s of a highly organized indigenous movement and its struggles against a U.S. oil company and Ecuadorian neoliberal policies. Against the backdrop of mounting government attempts to privatize and liberalize the national economy, Suzana Sawyer shows how neoliberal reforms in Ecuador led to a crisis of governance, accountability, and representation that spurred one of twentieth-century Latin America’s strongest indigenous movements. Through her rich ethnography of indigenous marches, demonstrations, occupations, and negotiations, Sawyer tracks the growing sophistication of indigenous politics as Indians subverted, re-deployed, and, at times, capitulated to the dictates and desires of a transnational neoliberal logic. At the same time, she follows the multiple maneuvers and discourses that the multinational corporation and the Ecuadorian state used to circumscribe and contain indigenous opposition. Ultimately, Sawyer reveals that indigenous struggles over land and oil operations in Ecuador were as much about reconfiguring national and transnational inequality—that is, rupturing the silence around racial injustice, exacting spaces of accountability, and rewriting narratives of national belonging—as they were about the material use and extraction of rain-forest resources.

Full Text

De Ferranti — 2007-12-16T09:32:12-00:00

Inequality in Latin America, pp. 1-380.

Resources Booms and Macroeconomic Adjustments in Developing Countries

Mamta Chowdhury — 2008-06-13T13:52:02-00:00

(30 April 2004)

Simulation studies of liquidity needs, risks and efficiency in payment networks

Harry Leinonen — 2008-05-29T21:24:18-00:00

(2007)

Dimensions of the Shadow Economy: The Independent Review

2008-05-20T17:34:29-00:00

Increasing Shadow Economies all over the World - Fiction or Reality?

2008-04-10T14:47:51-00:00

Guest editorial: Telecommunications in Latin America

Judith Mariscal — 2008-03-20T08:50:43-00:00

Telecommunications Policy, Vol. 29, No. 5-6. ( 2005), pp. 329-331.

Local Exchange Trading Systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2008-02-19T20:04:30-00:00

Environment and Planning A abstract

2008-02-19T20:04:06-00:00

The Social Meaning of Money: "Special Monies"

Viviana Zelizer — 2008-02-19T20:03:39-00:00

The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 95, No. 2. (1989), pp. 342-377.

Classic interpretations of the development of the modern world portray money as a key instrument in the rationalization of social life. Money is reductively defined as the ultimate objectifier, homogenizing all qualitative distrinctions into an abstract quantity. This paper shows the limits of such a purely utilitarian conception of "market money." A model of "special monies" is proposed to examine the extraeconomic, social basis of modern money. The article argues that, while money does indeed transform items, values, and sentiments into numerical cash equivalents, money itself is shaped in the process. Culture and social structure mark the quality of money by institutionalizing controls, restrictions, and districtions in the sources, uses, modes of allocation, and even the quantity of money. The changing social meaning and structure of domestic money, specifically married women's money in the United States, 1870-1930, are examined as an empirical case study of a special money.

Signs of the Inka Khipu: Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records (The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies)

Gary Urton — 2008-02-18T23:38:35-00:00

(01 August 2003)

<blockquote> "Urton's work is scholarly and painstakingly thorough and is a valuable contribution to our understanding of Inca inscription that makes good use of ethnographic and ethnohistorical work on the Andean region." —<cite>The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute</cite> "This is by far the most important monograph on Andean systems of information registry since the Ashers' volumes in the late 1970s. Urton provides a platform for a whole new generation of studies." —Frank Salomon, Professor of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison </blockquote> In an age when computers process immense amounts of information by the manipulation of sequences of 1s and 0s, it remains a frustrating mystery how prehistoric Inka recordkeepers encoded a tremendous variety and quantity of data using only knotted and dyed strings. Yet the comparison between computers and khipu may hold an important clue to deciphering the Inka records. In this book, Gary Urton sets forth a pathbreaking theory that the manipulation of fibers in the construction of khipu created physical features that constitute binary-coded sequences which store units of information in a system of binary recordkeeping that was used throughout the Inka empire. Urton begins his theory with the making of khipu, showing how at each step of the process binary, either/or choices were made. He then investigates the symbolic components of the binary coding system, the amount of information that could have been encoded, procedures that may have been used for reading the khipu, the nature of the khipu signs, and, finally, the nature of the khipu recording system itself—emphasizing relations of markedness and semantic coupling. This research constitutes a major step forward in building a unified theory of the khipu system of information storage and communication based on the sum total of construction features making up these extraordinary objects.

The Cord Keepers: Khipus and Cultural Life in a Peruvian Village (Latin America Otherwise)

Frank Salomon — 2008-02-18T23:37:56-00:00

(15 December 2004)

None of the world’s “lost writings” have proven more perplexing than the mysterious script in which the Inka Empire kept its records. Ancient Andean peoples encoded knowledge in knotted cords of cotton or wool called khipus. In The Cord Keepers, the distinguished anthropologist Frank Salomon breaks new ground with a close ethnography of one Andean village where villagers, surprisingly, have conserved a set of these enigmatic cords to the present day. The “quipocamayos,” as the villagers call them, form a sacred patrimony. Keying his reading to the internal life of the ancient kin groups that own the khipus, Salomon suggests that the multicolored cords, with their knots and lavishly woven ornaments, did not mimic speech as most systems of writing do, but instead were anchored in nonverbal codes. The Cord Keepers makes a compelling argument for a close intrinsic link between rituals and visual-sign systems. It indicates that, while Andean graphic representation may differ radically from familiar ideas of writing, it may not lie beyond the reach of scholarly interpretation. In 1994, Salomon witnessed the use of khipus as civic regalia on the heights of Tupicocha, in Peru’s central Huarochirí region. By observing the rich ritual surrounding them, studying the village’s written records from past centuries, and analyzing the khipus themselves, Salomon opens a fresh chapter in the quest for khipu decipherment. He draws on a decade’s field research, early colonial records, and radiocarbon and fiber analysis. Challenging the prevailing idea that the use of khipus ended under early Spanish colonial rule, Salomon reveals that these beautiful objects served, apparently as late as the early twentieth century, to document households’ contribution to their kin groups and these kin groups’ contribution to their village. The Cord Keepers is a major contribution to Andean history and, more broadly, to understandings of writing and literacy.

Narrative Threads: Accounting and Recounting in Andean Khipu (Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture)

Jeffrey Quilter — 2008-02-18T23:37:17-00:00

(15 August 2002)

<blockquote> "A veritable encyclopedia of the khipu, this volume pulls together new and groundbreaking work by the foremost experts, attacking the problem from a wide variety of perspectives and integrating analysis from historical, archaeological, and ethnographic perspectives." —Thomas A. Abercrombie, Associate Professor of Anthropology, New York University </blockquote> The Inka Empire stretched over much of the length and breadth of the South American Andes, encompassed elaborately planned cities linked by a complex network of roads and messengers, and created astonishing works of architecture and artistry and a compelling mythology—all without the aid of a graphic writing system. Instead, the Inkas' records consisted of devices made of knotted and dyed strings—called khipu—on which they recorded information pertaining to the organization and history of their empire. Despite more than a century of research on these remarkable devices, the khipu remain largely undeciphered. In this benchmark book, twelve international scholars tackle the most vexed question in khipu studies: how did the Inkas record and transmit narrative records by means of knotted strings? The authors approach the problem from a variety of angles. Several essays mine Spanish colonial sources for details about the kinds of narrative encoded in the khipu. Others look at the uses to which khipu were put before and after the Conquest, as well as their current use in some contemporary Andean communities. Still others analyze the formal characteristics of khipu and seek to explain how they encode various kinds of numerical and narrative data.

Information Control in he Palace of Puruchuco: An Accounting Hierarchy in a Khipu Archive from Coastal Peru

Gary Urton — 2008-01-15T22:14:50-00:00

(2007), pp. 357-384.

Securing Lebanon from the Threat of Salafist Jihadism

Saab — 2007-12-06T08:59:14-00:00

Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Vol. 30, No. 10. (October 2007), pp. 825-855.

The QDF file format: an electronic system to describe ancient andean khipus

Manuel Izquierdo — 2007-12-30T00:46:53-00:00

(19 May 2005)

With the goal of bringing to reseachers of the ancient andean khipus with a tool to share and process electronically the current corpus of these ancient information devices, I present on this paper a proposal for a Quipu Description Format (QDF), a XML based file format designed to describe such documents in a systematic and computer standard way.

Narrative Threads: Accounting and Recounting in Andean Khipu

Sheila Arup — 2007-12-30T00:46:37-00:00

pp. 104-107.

A 3500 14 C yr High-Resolution Record of Water-Level Changes in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru

MB Abbott — 2007-12-29T06:35:47-00:00

pp. 169-180.

Sediment cores collected from the southern basin of Lake Titicaca (Bolivia/Peru) on a transect from 4.6 m above overflow level to 15.1 m below overflow level are used to identify a new century-scale chronology of Holocene lake-level variations. The results indicate that lithologic and geochemical analyses on a transect of cores can be used to identify and date century-scale lake-level changes. Detailed sedimentary analyses of subfacies and radiocarbon dating were conducted on four representative cores. A chronology based on 60 accelerator mass spectrometer radiocarbon measurements constrains the timing of water-level fluctuations. Two methods were used to estimate the 14 C reservoir age. Both indicate that it has remained nearly constant at =~250 14 C yr during the late Holocene. Core studies based on lithology and geochemistry establish the timing and magnitude of five periods of low lake level, implying negative moisture balance for the northern Andean altiplano over the last 3500 cal yr. Between 3500 and 3350 cal yr B.P., a transition from massive, inorganic-clay facies to laminated organic-matter-rich silts in each of the four cores signals a water-level rise after a prolonged mid-Holocene dry phase. Evidence of other significant low lake levels occurs 2900-2800, 2400-2200, 2000-1700, and 900-500 cal yr B.P. Several of the low lake levels coincided with cultural changes in the region, including the collapse of the Tiwanaku civilization.

Regulations, Institutions, and Commitment: Comparative Studies of Telecommunications (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)

2007-12-13T18:30:10-00:00

(28 August 1996)

Currently, privatization and regulatory reform are often viewed as the solution to the problem of poor performance by telecommunications and other public utilities. This volume argues that these high expectations may not always be met because of the way a country's institutions and systems interact.

Estimating market power in the Internet backbone. Using the IP transit Band-X database

Emanuele Giovannetti — 2007-12-13T13:03:28-00:00

Telecommunications Policy, Vol. 29, No. 4. (May 2005), pp. 269-284.

Recent studies have found the Internet backbone to be more competitive than was thought before. This paper explores a novel route to monitor market power using prices and quality data from the online trading site Band-X. First the hypothesis that Europe is a connectivity market on its own, is tested and then, by using a Panel data regression, the paper finds that these markets are not fully competitive since company specific reputation effects play a major role and price variations are only marginally affected by qualitative variables. Worryingly, companies with high prices are often able to supply an inferior quality transit.

Venezuela | The beginning of the end for Hugo Chávez | Economist.com

2007-12-13T05:47:28-00:00

Europe's Internet Troubles - Mises Institute

2007-12-09T21:22:00-00:00

(Re) Creating Ethnicity: Middle Eastern Immigration to Brazil

Jeffrey Lesser — 2007-11-29T15:25:22-00:00

The Americas, Vol. 53, No. 1. (1996), pp. 45-65.

The Levantines in Latin America

William Glade — 2007-11-29T15:23:55-00:00

The American Economic Review, Vol. 73, No. 2. (1983), pp. 118-122.

Migrants, Workers and Refugees: The Political Economy of Population Movements in the Middle East

Michael Humphrey — 2007-11-29T15:20:00-00:00

Nationalism, diaspora and 'civilisational mission': the case of Syrian nationalism in Latin America between World War I and World War II

Christoph Schumann — 2007-11-29T15:19:30-00:00

Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 10, No. 4. (2004), pp. 599-617.

Abstract. The notion of 'civilisational mission' (risala hadariyya) is a core concept of nationalism, particularly of Arab and Syrian nationalism. Its importance lies in the ability to bring three aspects of nationalist thought into one pattern of meaning: the projected modernisation of the nation, the nation's quest for recognition and equal participation in the international arena, and the claim to political leadership of the rising educated middle class. In the Syrian diaspora during the interwar period, the notion was additionally shaped by the refutation of the neo-colonial aspirations of the mandate powers (mission civilisatrice) as well as by the interaction between the diaspora community and the host society. This article analyses this concept in its discursive context focusing on Dr Khalil and Antun Sa'adeh, who were both eminent intellectuals, party founders and editors of several diasporic newspapers and magazines in Argentina and Brazil.

Chronology, Succession, and Sovereignty: The Politics of Inka Historiography and Its Modern Interpretation

Alan Covey — 2007-11-23T16:05:32-00:00

Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 48, No. 1. (2006), pp. 169-199.

On the Wings of Time: Rome, the Incas, Spain, and Peru

Sabine Maccormack — 2007-11-12T02:28:54-00:00

(23 October 2006)

Historians have long recognized that the classical heritage of ancient Rome contributed to the development of a vibrant society in Spanish South America, but was the impact a one-way street? Although the Spanish destruction of the Incan empire changed the Andes forever, the civil society that did emerge was not the result of Andeans and Creoles passively absorbing the wisdom of ancient Rome. Rather, Sabine MacCormack proposes that civil society was born of the intellectual endeavors that commenced with the invasion itself, as the invaders sought to understand an array of cultures. Looking at the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century people who wrote about the Andean region that became Peru, MacCormack reveals how the lens of Rome had a profound influence on Spanish understanding of the Incan empire. Tracing the varied events that shaped Peru as a country, MacCormack shows how Roman and classical literature provided a framework for the construal of historical experience. She turns to issues vital to Latin American history, such as the role of language in conquest, the interpretation of civil war, and the founding of cities, to paint a dynamic picture of the genesis of renewed political life in the Andean region. Examining how missionaries, soldiers, native lords, and other writers employed classical concepts to forge new understandings of Peruvian society and history, the book offers a complete reassessment of the ways in which colonial Peru made the classical heritage uniquely its own.

From Stewards to Bureaucrats: Architecture and Information Flow at Chan Chan, Peru

John Topic — 2007-11-12T02:26:12-00:00

Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 14, No. 3. (2003), pp. 243-274.

[English] Archaeologists working with complex societies are concerned with the administration of political economies. Beginning with the premise that there are differing forms of administration and that bureaucracy, in the classic formulation of Max Weber, is one of these, I develop a heuristic dichotomy between two types of administrators: stewards (who closely supervise goods and people) and bureaucrats (who process and control information). Bureaucracy is often linked to written records, but in the Central Andes alternative methods of record keeping were developed, such as the quipu or knotted string record. I argue that one alternative record-keeping device was an architectural form, the U-shaped structure. U-shaped structures are closely identified with the administrative architecture of the Chimu kingdom (ca. A.D. 850-1470) on the north coast of Peru. Four independent lines of argument demonstrate the development of bureaucracy from stewardship at Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu kingdom. Brief comparisons are made between the Chimu administrative pattern and commodity and information flow in the earlier Huari and Tiwanku civilizations, and with the later Inka pattern. These comparisons show how record-keeping technology affects political economy and the strategy of expansion. // [Spanish] Arqueologos investigando las sociedades complejas tienen interes en la administracion de la economia politica. Afirmo que hay varias formas de administracion publica y que la burocracia, en la formulacion clasica de Max Weber, es una de estas formas. Desarrollo una dicotomia heuristica entre dos tipos de administradores: mayordomos (quienes vigilan acerca de los productos almacenados) y burocratas (quienes trabajan con informacion acerca de los productos almacenados). El desarrollo de la burocracia es generalmente asociado con la escritura, pero en los andes centrales otras maneras de registrar y archivar informacion se desarrollaban. Mi tesis es que una manera alternativa andina utilizaba una forma arquitectonica especial: la estructura en forma de Ü." Estas estructuras ocurren comunmente en la arquitectura administrativa del reino de Chimu (ca. 850-1470 d.C), costa norte peruana. Presento cuatro pruebas independientes mostrando como la burocracia desarrollaba del mayordomia en Chan Chan, capital del reino Chimu. Hago comparaciones breves entre el patron administrativo Chimu y lo conocido de los patrones administrativos en las culturas Huari y Tiwanaku, antecesores a los Chimues, y en la cultura Inka que sucedio a los Chimues. Las comparaciones demuestran como la tecnologia de registrar y archivar informacion afecta la economia politica y la estrategia de expansion estatal.

Oil boom, a blessing for Mexico?

RA Sanchez — 2007-11-12T02:16:55-00:00

GeoJournal, Vol. 7, No. 3. (1 May 1983), pp. 229-246.

The oil discoveries in Southern Mexico are now thought to be linked in one vast field a geological blessing that could catapult Mexico as the world's second largest oil producer. However, after six years of oil boom it is now clear that this does not mean, by itself, a blessing for Mexico. Current experience leaves no doubt that Mexico's problems can not be solved only by oil exports.

Linux Software Router: Data Plane Optimization and Performance Evaluation

Raffaele Bolla — 2007-11-07T20:02:32-00:00

Journal of Networks, Vol. 2, No. 3. (2007), pp. 6-17.

Open-Source PC-Based Software Routers: A Viable Approach to High-Performance Packet Switching

Andrea Bianco — 2007-11-07T20:02:10-00:00

FIXME (2005)

High Router Flexibility and Performance by Combining Dedicated Lookup Hardware (IFT), off the Shelf Switches and Linux

Christian Duret — 2007-11-07T19:50:10-00:00

"NETWORKING 2002. Networking Technologies, Services, and Protocols; Performance of Computer and Communication Networks; and Mobile and Wireless Communications": Second International IFIP-TC6 Networking Conference, Pisa, Italy, May 19-24, 2002. Proceedings (2002), 1117.

In this paper we propose a new router architecture that combines both flexibility and performance. This router architecture aims at combining the best of two worlds: the commercial routers, which have a proven track for stability and performance but lack the flexibility of routers with open source operation system. The latter is particularly flexible because the source code is accessible for analysis and modification purposes as opposed to the traditional commercial routers, whose software can be altered by their manufacturers only.

A Performance Model Of A PC Based IP Software Router

Oscar-Iván Lepe-Aldama — 2007-11-07T19:43:28-00:00

Vol. 2 (2002), pp. 1230-1235.

We can define a software router as a general-purpose computer that executes a computer program capable of forwarding IP datagrams among network interface cards attached to its I/O bus. This paper presents a parametrical model of a PC based IP software router. Validation results clearly show that the model accurately estimates the performance of the modeled system at different levels of detail. On the other hand, the paper presents experimental results that provide insights about the detailed functioning of such a system and demonstrate the model is valid not only for the characterized systems but for a reasonably range of CPU, memory and I/O bus operation speeds.

Pro-Indigenous Reforms in Bolivia: Is there an Andean Way to Escape Poverty

Zoomers — 2006-11-16T04:59:37-00:00

Development and Change, Vol. 37, No. 5. (September 2006), pp. 1023-1046.

The Jammed Democracy: Bolivia's Troubled Political Learning Process

Salman — 2006-03-11T19:45:03-00:00

Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 25, No. 2. (April 2006), pp. 163-182.

Coca Substitution and Free Trade in Bolivia: The Pending Crisis

Toledo — 2007-01-22T18:37:04-00:00

Review of Development Economics, Vol. 11, No. 1. (February 2007), pp. 63-77.

Value and Depreciation of Mineral Resources Over the Very Long Run: An Empirical Contrast of Different Methods

2007-10-29T01:15:51-00:00

Delay-Tolerant Networking Architecture

V Cerf — 2007-10-22T20:08:56-00:00

Casting the Net: From ARPANET to INTERNET and Beyond

Peter Salus — 2007-06-22T16:24:52-00:00

(21 April 1995)

While brief histories of the Internet exist in many places, Peter Salus attempts to pull together the entire story. Beginning with George Stibnitz's demonstration of Bell Labs' complex calculator by remote terminal in September of 1940, Salus shows how this dauntingly complex technological achievement came into existence step by step, with thousands of small innovations in both hardware and software. It's unavoidable that the book is largely about technology, and there are several technical details and charts for those interested in the nuts and bolts of Internet construction. But even the technologically challenged will be able to follow the tale since it's largely about the people who made it all happen. Salus has gone back to the original documents and correspondence among the Net's creators and has interviewed such key players as Vinton Cerf, Bob Kahn, John Quartermain, Ray Tomlinson and many more. The picture that emerges encompasses the energy and thrill that went into the technical achievements--as well as many of the laughs and weirdness. Salus includes a number of the so-called Requests For Comments (RFCs) that were primarily used to spread technical developments but were occasional carriers of stress-relieving humor. RFC 527, "Arpawocky," is a terrific take-off on the "Jabberwocky," while RFC 1149, "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Diagrams on Avian Carriers," is an April 1st proposal to send messages by carrier pigeon.

Towards a Next Generation Inter-domain Routing Protocol

2007-10-22T13:52:48-00:00

Some Foundational Problems in Interdomain Routing

2007-10-22T13:52:00-00:00

Mythbusters: Whatever You Thought About MANET Routing, Think Again...

2007-10-22T12:50:37-00:00

Economics of secondary energy from GTL regarding natural gas reserves of Bolivia

2007-10-21T21:58:03-00:00

EconPapers: Value and Depreciation of Mineral Resources Over the Very Long Run: An Empirical Contrast of Different Methods

2007-10-21T21:55:02-00:00

The Science of Surfing Waves and Surfing Breaks - A Review

2007-10-20T19:31:09-00:00

Opportunistic networking: data forwarding in disconnected mobile ad hoc networks

L Pelusi — 2007-04-25T01:51:23-00:00

Communications Magazine, IEEE, Vol. 44, No. 11. (2006), pp. 134-141.

Why Foreign Oil Companies Shifted Their Production from Mexico to Venezuela during the 1920s

Jonathan Brown — 2007-10-19T14:10:02-00:00

The American Historical Review, Vol. 90, No. 2. (1985), pp. 362-385.

The Mexican Oil Boom: 1977-1985

M Gavin — 2005-01-20T00:29:54-00:00

(1996)

Mexican oil and dependent development

JA Gentleman — 2007-10-18T20:56:01-00:00

(1982)