Asef Bayat: Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East (2010)
Filed under book | Tags: · democracy, everyday, islam, life, middle east, politics, religion, resistance, social movements, women
The popular view in the West deems the Muslim Middle East as socially and politically stagnant. The Art of Presence challenges this view. It shows how, under often authoritarian rule, the ordinary people discover or create new spaces within which they can voice their concerns and assert their presence. The major venues for social and political change are not simply mass protest or revolutions, even though these do happen; they are rather embodied in what Bayat calls ‘non-movements’, the millions of dispersed poor, women, the young, and other grassroots who act in common.
Publisher Amsterdam University Press, 2010
ISIM Series on Contemporary Muslim Societies
ISBN 978 90 5356 911 5
320 pages
Hans Abbing: Why Are Artists Poor? The Exceptional Economy of the Arts (2002)
Filed under book | Tags: · aesthetics, art, art criticism, art history, economics, gift economy, market, money, netherlands
“Most artists earn very little. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of aspiring young artists. Do they give to the arts willingly or unknowingly? Governments and other institutions also give to the arts, to raise the low incomes. But their support is ineffective: subsidies only increase the artists’ poverty.
The economy of the arts is exceptional. Although the arts operate successfully in the marketplace, their natural affinity is with gift-giving, rather than with commercial exchange. People believe that artists are selflessly dedicated to art, that price does not reflect quality, and that the arts are free. But is it true?
This unconventional multidisciplinary analysis explains the exceptional economy of the arts. Insightful illustrations from the practice of a visual artist support the analysis.”
Publisher Amsterdam University Press, 2002
Open access
ISBN 9053565655, 9789053565650
367 pages
PDF (updated on 2019-12-12)
Comments (2)Mathieu O’Neil: Cyberchiefs: Autonomy and Authority in Online Tribes (2009)
Filed under book | Tags: · autonomy, blogging, blogosphere, floss, free software, internet, politics, usenet, wikipedia
People are inventing new ways of working together on the internet. Decentralised production thrives on weblogs, wikis and free software projects. In Cyberchiefs, Mathieu O’Neil focuses on the regulations of these working relationships. He examines the transformation of leadership and expertise in online networks, and the emergence of innovative forms of participatory politics.
What are the costs and benefits of alternatives to hierarchical organisation? Using case studies of online projects or ‘tribes’ such as the radical Primitivism archive, the Daily Kos political weblog, the Debian free software project, and Wikipedia, O’Neil shows that leaders must support maximum autonomy for participants, and he analyses the tensions generated by this distribution of authority.
Publisher Pluto Press, 2009
ISBN 0745327974, 9780745327976
242 pages
PDF (updated on 2013-3-3)
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