NASA-Led Study Finds Warming-Driven Megadroughts Jeopardizing Amazon Forest

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/01/20/1474171/study-finds-warming-driven-megadroughts-jeopardizing-amazon-forest/

Climate Change

I'm hoping to compile a repository of the best climate change articles and research papers for my own reference. This will be that repository. To kick it off, here's the Scientific American's articles on the issue.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/topic.cfm?id=global-warming-and-climate-change

Are you involved in an online community?

...Then please take 5 minutes to complete my survey. I'm doing a statistics course and as part of it I have to conduct a social research project. I've become very interested in online communities and so am investigating how they're formed, who is attracted to them, and why they become involved.

If you wish to participate, Click here to take survey.

It's conducted through Survey Monkey and is anonymous and confidential. All responses will be published in aggregate form. The final paper will be made available through this blog.

Hiatus

Galtha is on hiatus while this exhausted student is taking a break. Be back next year for my Master's.

Garma: Two streams meet

The opening speech from the Garma Festival has an interesting perspective on Aboriginal art.

The G20s missed opportunity

“Financial markets are not an end in themselves, but a means: they are supposed to perform certain vital functions which enable the real economy to be more productive: (a) mobilising savings, (b) allocating capital, and (c) managing risk.” The financial crisis was a direct result of treating the creation of financial products as an end in itself – as a valuable driver of economic growth independent of the products’ effects.
Read the full report here

Topics for negotiated knowledges

I started this blog mostly for my own purposes. It's been a great way to explore issues I need to confront in work and study and as a repository for research sources and ideas. As a student, it has been very helpful.

While the interest from other readers has not been high, there has been some interest, a fact that surprised me a great deal. As such, I'm running a quick poll to see what topics my (somewhat limited) readership is interested in so I can explore issues that are of interest not just to me but to other inquiring minds on the web.

Please vote if you feel inclined and comment if you want to make suggestions, comments or criticisms. My musings are just that, musings, and I would be ecstatic to get some constructive feedback from those passing by.

Closing the Gap: Is statistical equality enough?

Australian Review of Public Affairs: Is ‘Close the Gap’ a useful approach to improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians?

Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research: Beyond Closing the Gap: Valuing Diversity in Indigenous Australia

Close the Gap: What the NGOs are saying

The original Close the Gap campaign was started by a group of Non-govnerment Organisations (NGOs). What do they have to say about Close the Gap day? Of course the following listed NGOs are not comprehensive: see the full list on the Close the Gap website.

Amnesty International renews calls to Close the Gap

Oxfam says the campaign to Close the Gap has achieved real progress this year.

World Vision has an extraordinary amount of information in the always-excellent Stir.

The Australian Human Rights Commission (HREOC) announces that Rugby League became the first national sporting code to pledge its support for a national action plan to close the 17-year life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians and argues that the historic formal statement of support from the federal government for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples should be backed immediately with a comprehensive national action plan to Close the Gap in health equality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The Fred Hollows Foundation publishes a personal reflection on Closing the Gap.

Close the Gap: the Great CAEPR Caper

OK, technically that post title makes no sense but I have always wanted to use it. The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at ANU is an island of evidence-based thinking in a sea of policy confusion.

Staff at CAEPR have produced a plethora of papers regarding overcoming indigenous disadvantage. They were also active in the period around Closing the Gap day in getting the message regarding Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (OID) out into the media.

Following are some links to some more academic analyses on Closing the Gap:

Nick Biddle from CAEPR tells the SMH we need a more urban focus to Close the Gap

"Because 75 per cent of the indigenous population lives outside of remote Australia, and the outcomes of those outside remote Australia are still substantially worse than the outcomes of the non-indigenous population, in order to close the gaps there's no way you can ignore urban Australia."


Professor Jon Altman from CAEPR considers the Closing the Gap progress after the apology in this piece printed on the Crikey website.


Professor Jon Altman from CAEPR writes that the Closing the Gap rhetoric buys into the Howard legacy.

"Despite its rhetoric, the government does not have a plan to tackle Indigenous disadvantage Australia-wide, and its policy framework for Closing the Gap is captured by 2008-09 commitments to the NT National Emergency; these commitments are all subject to ‘independent’ review and face funding uncertainty."


Janet Hunt from CAEPR writes in the National Indigenous Times that governance arrangements hold the key to closing the gap.

"Culturally legitimate and practically effective governance lies at the heart of improved Indigenous outcomes. Indeed, 'Closing the gap' between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia will remain a pipedream unless workable and legitimate governance arrangements are created and sustained in Aboriginal communities. We now have robust evidence of what such governance arrangements might look like, and how they can be developed."


Jon Altman, Nicholas Biddle and Boyd Hunter from CAEPR analyse the challenges of OID by
using available Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data from the five yearly censuses to examine change in Indigenous socio-economic outcomes in absolute and relative (to the non-Indigenous population) terms. They also use observations from data collected in past censuses to estimate when the existing statistical gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous outcomes might close and make some general observations about what these findings might mean for government policy at the national level.

Mind The Gap: Amnesty International blog entry

Read what Amnesty blogger Lucas Jordon has to say about Close the Gap day last week:

http://www.amnesty.org.au/aus/comments/20753/#When:04:01:40Z

Close the Gap Day: Background reading

If you're interested in learning about how we can all help close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage, the following background reading will help. The main question to keep in mind from a negotiated knowledges perspective is: are we trying to assess "statistical equality" only and is this the best way to measure comparative disadvantage?

Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations

Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle “Little Children are Sacred” report into child sexual abuse (warning: some readers will find the content of this report disturbing and upsetting)

Close the Gap: original website set up by a coalition of NGOs. Although most government frameworks on overcoming indigenous disadvantage use the name "Close the Gap" or "Closing the Gap" (often used synonymously), their policies may differ considerably from the ones outlined in this website.

Transcript of Rudd's speech when tabling the first annual report card on Closing the Gap progress

First annual Closing the Gap report card

Closing the Gap

Today is national 'Close the Gap' Day so it seems an appropriate time to start discussing different perspectives on service provision to Indigenous people, both within discrete communities and in urban areas. Over the next few days, I'll be providing links to relevant articles, media releases and campaigns, as well as summarising papers on the issue. There is a 17-year gap in life expectancy between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous people within Australia and closing it requires innovation, consultation and informed policy.

If you have an opinion on CTG or have read something or informative on the issue, please feel free to contribute. It's only through the free-flow of ideas that the status quo changes in a constructive way.

Homo economicus rejected by Mag Economicus

"Too much economics, say Mr Akerlof and Mr Shiller, has been built on the premise that humans are rational calculators. That is not a new criticism, even from economists. Over the past couple of decades Homo economicus has evolved into a being more like H. sapiens, as economics has drawn on psychology, biology and even neuroscience. “Behavioural” economics has shaped public policy—for instance, in encouraging people to save or in shaping the choice of investments in their pension pots. Behavioural economists have earned Nobel prizes. Mr Akerlof and Mr Shiller, however, complain that this evolution has been confined mainly to microeconomics. It is time for macroeconomics to catch up."

The economist writes an article essentially stating that the very basis of its worldview is wrong...but it's buried in the science section so I suppose hell hasn't frozen over yet.

Capitalism Beyond the Crisis

"Ideas about changing the organization of society in the long run are clearly needed, quite apart from strategies for dealing with an immediate crisis. I would separate out three questions from the many that can be raised. First, do we really need some kind of "new capitalism" rather than an economic system that is not monolithic, draws on a variety of institutions chosen pragmatically, and is based on social values that we can defend ethically? Should we search for a new capitalism or for a "new world"—to use the other term mentioned at the Paris meeting—that would take a different form?

Another addition to the current economic debate at the New York Review of Books.

Are we really all Keynesians now?

The Economist is in the process of running a three-day online debate entitled "This house believes that we are all Keynesians now". The debate will run all this week at Economist Debates. At the moment, the general consensus is that no, we are not all Keynesians. What seems to be lacking so far is any acknowledgement that maybe we need to look beyond the neo-classical/Keynesian labels.

We are all socialists now

On the issue of economic orthodoxy, the New York Times has published an interesting article by Patricia Cohen on the lag in University Departments accepting other economic theories as valid.

The sound of a paradigm shifting

Today's issue of Inside Story has an interesting article on Rudd's anti-neoliberalism essay by Geoffrey Barker. I would have preferred a more in-depth analysis of the essay and Howard's response but nonethless it's an interesting read.

Blue Mud Bay: An Ontological Shift?

“We are the Yolngu people, the traditional owners of land and sea estates in the Gove Peninsula region of North East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Our relationship with the sea and its resources is fundamental to our religious, social and economic life and wellbeing. We continue in the footsteps of our ancestors in caring for and being guardians of our sea country” (Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation 2007, p4).

“In the Yolngu world view, water is the giver of sacred knowledge, all ceremonies and lands. Whether it’s fresh or salt, travelling on or under the land, or in the sea, water is the source of all that is holy,” (Rose 1996, p32).

Since the appeal against the Blue Mud Bay decision was unsuccessful in July 2008, there has been a stream of commentary regarding its impact on other native title claims and on commercial fisheries and amateur anglers.

In all the material written about the Blue Mud Bay decision, one aspect remains poorly-covered: the extent to which the recognition of rights over territorial waters in the Blue Mud Bay area impacts the incorporation of Indigenous knowledges from the region into conservation and land management practices.

There is an association between ownership of a resource and successful management of a resource. Recent research, published in Science and reported in the Economist, found a direct correlation between the privatisation of fisheries through what are known as catch shares or Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) and the conservation of fish stocks.

While the traditional owners of Blue Mud Bay have had recognition of ownership over their land for a long time, the High Court’s decision granted exclusive rights regarding commercial and recreational fishing in the intertidal zone and tidal rivers to the low water mark. In the words of Wali Wunungmurra, the Chairman of the Northern Land Council, “this means that Yolngu people must now be included in any discussions and agreements about fishing, or any other business, on our lands to the low water mark. It also means that we can protect our sacred sites in the sea and take better care of our country.”

Blue Mud Bay is in the Dhimurru Indigenous Protected Area (IPA): 92,000 hectares near the Gulf of Carpentaria in North-East Arnhem Land and conservation programmes incorporating the local people have therefore been operating for some time. These are a part of the Dhimurru Yolnguwu Monuk Gapu Wana Sea Country Plan and include turtle recovery and satellite tracking, marine debris surveys, working as part of the Carpentaria Ghost Nets Programme, ethno-botanical survey of Melville Bay and coral monitoring. On its website, the Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation lists investigating ways to incorporate western science-based management practice within traditional resource management as one of its fundamental objectives.

While the Dhimurru Sea Country Plan predates the original Blue Mud Bay decision in 2007 the Plan was a mechanism for Yolngu to articulate and define their management interests and customary rights in saltwater country despite having no formal legal jurisdiction at the time.

In his 2005 thesis on the relationship between the Yolngu people of Blue Mud Bay and water, Marcus Barber argues that the Dholupuyngu (literally ‘mud people’) people of Blue Mud Bay use their understanding of water flows as one basis for generating systems of coastal ownership. While non-Indigenous people use the word ‘Country’ as a synonym for land, for Indigenous people ‘Country’ is the English word most commonly used when referring to places they own and is a humanised realm with owners, stories, songs and Ancestry attached to it.

Since colonisation in Australia the legal system has used dominant western values of mare liberum to erase customary sea rights and the State has used this as a justification for the management of the ‘commons’ of oceans for commercial benefit and conservation. In contrast, for the Yolngu there has never been a separation between land and sea. Because Yolngu do not understand, think about or manage sea country differently to land and because traditional ecological knowledge is local, practical and embedded and is therefore most efficiently implemented within the cultural context in which it was developed, the Blue Mud Bay decision may allow a more effective incorporation of indigenous ecological knowledges into contemporary land and sea management practices in the area.

In fact, the return of ownership of traditional country has provided a significant opportunity in the area of biological and resource management for traditional owners although the issue of how to marry Indigenous ecological knowledge and Western science remains. There is still some way to go to achieve a vision of an economy that maintains and builds on Indigenous land, knowledges and management practices whilst creating genuine opportunities for employment, income and business development on Indigenous lands.

For the Dholupuyngu, sea ownership could have a significant positive impact on their capacity to conserve their ocean resources. While the ramifications of the Blue Mud Bay decision are still to be felt, the rhetoric coming from the Dholupuyngu shows a desire to work with non-Indigenous players, particularly in the area of fishing regulation. Wunungmurra talks of a “true” partnership regarding commercial and recreational fishing and quotes local traditional owner Djambawa Marawili as saying that, “there has to be real contact with the landowners so both Yolngu and whites are looking after the land, doing hand-in-hand, partner-to-partner, together".

But Barber goes even further than this; suggesting that an ontological shift in perceiving land and sea as inter-related, rather than separate, could have an impact on Western conservation efforts more broadly by facilitating the incorporation of Indigenous knowledges into these efforts. This shift, motivated by the Blue Mud Bay decision, could impact water preservation in other areas, such as that depicted in Altman and Branchut’s work on water in the hybrid economies in the Maningrida region.

Altman & Branchut note the paradox that largely irrelevant non-Indigenous ideas about water are informing policy in the region while local, relevant Aboriginal values are either being ignored or misunderstood. While water is increasingly a tradeable commodity from a Western perspective, its value for the local Aboriginal people is deeply culturally-embedded. These very different views about water and who owns it have resulted in what Altman & Branchut call ‘intercultural contestation’.

If the High Course can rule that Arnhem Land waters have been reserved for Aboriginal land owners, than it could be argued that terrestrial fresh water sources have been similarly reserved. What Altman & Branchut do not state outright but do imply, is that this decision could force the Northern Territory government to liaise with the local people and begin to incorporate local culturally-based knowledge into future water management plans. At the least, they recommend that a dialogue be opened with traditional owners and note that in the longer-term the activities of Aboriginal people on country could make a significant contribution to the maintenance of water quality and associated biodiversity.

According to Barber, this contribution could potentially be much broader. While he acknowledges that generalising is difficult because of the specificity of Indigenous knowledges to local environments, he believes that the greater understanding of the inter-connectedness of different aspects of the environment underpinning a Yolngu world-view can inform wider debates, such as those on climate change and provide a fresh perspective to non-Indigenous conservationists

“Understanding coastal country through water flows contributes to wider conservation concerns about the coastline; sewage and fertiliser runoff, river and groundwater quality, and the importance of estuaries as fish breeding areas...(and) draws attention to processes occurring on a broader scale, in terms of the relationship between weather, ocean and climate,” (Barber 2005, p210).

The Blue Mud Bay decision to give traditional owners the right to restrict access to the intertidal zone on the waters in their Country is an opportunity to fully-incorporate Indigenous knowledges into conservation practices. The ontological shift this decision represents, away from a Western view of the land and sea as being separate to an Indigenous worldview that sees land and sea as inter-related, also has implications for the incorporation of local knowledges into water management in other areas, such as Maningrida, and in wider debates, such as climate change.

Adapted from an essay submitted in October 2008 as part of my post-graduate diploma in Indigenous Knowledges

I am indebted to the following sources, among others, for this piece and would recommend further reading around these references:

Altman, J. C. 2008, ‘Understanding the Blue Mud Bay decision’, Crikey, viewed 20 September 2008, http://www.crikey.com.au/.

Altman, J. C. & Branchut, V. 2008, Fresh Water in the Maningrida Region’s Hybrid Economy: Intercultural Contestation over Values and Property Rights, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Working Paper 46, The Australian National University, Canberra.

A Rising Tide, The Economist, viewed 19 September 2008, http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12253181.

Armstrong, R., Morrison, J. & Yu, P. 2006, Indigenous Land and Sea Management and Sustainable Business Development in Northern Australia, North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance, viewed 20 September 2008, http://www.nailsma.org.au/.

Barber, M, 2005, ‘Where the Clouds Stand: Australian Aboriginal Relationships to Water, Place, and the Marine Environment in Blue Mud Bay, Northern Territory’, Unpublished (PhD) Thesis, Australian National University, Canberra.

‘Blue Mud Bay decision may impact Aust-wide indigenous rights', ABC News Online, viewed 21 September 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/30/2319084.htm.

‘Blue Mud Bay 'sets precedent' for Torres fishery’, ABC News Online, viewed 21 September 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/31/2319649.htm.

Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation 2008, Goals and Objectives, viewed 27 September 2008, http://www.dhimurru.com.au/goals.html.

Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation 2007, ‘Dhimurru Yolnguwu Monuk Gapu Wana Sea Country Plan’, in Waves, Vol. 13 No. 2, Marine and Coastal Community Network, p4, viewed 26 September 2008, http://oldmccn.iwayvietnam.com/article.php/id/1729/.

‘Land rights decision impacts NT fishing industry’, 7:30 Report online, viewed 21 September 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s1883439.htm.

Morrison, J. 2007, ‘Caring for Country’ in Altman, J & Hinkson, M., Coercive reconciliation: Stabilise, normalise, exit Aboriginal Australia, North Carlton, Victoria, pp249 – 261.
‘Northern Territory of Australia v Arnhem Land Aboriginal Land Trust [2008] HCA 29 (30 July 2008)’, viewed 21 September 2008, http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2008/29.html.

Peat, FD 1996, 'Indigenous Knowledge' in Blackfoot Physics: A Journey into the Native American Universe, Fourth Estate, London, pp 239 - 274.

Robinson, N 2008, ‘Aborigines' fishing rights in Blue Mud Bay upheld’, The Australian, viewed 25 September 2008, www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24101153-2702,00.html.

Rose, DB 1996, Nourishing Terrains, Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra.
Smyth, D 2007, ‘Sea Country Planning’ in Waves, Vol. 13 No. 2, Marine and Coastal Community Network, p3, viewed 26 September 2008, http://oldmccn.iwayvietnam.com/article.php/id/1729/.

Williams, G 2007, ‘Fishing Licences as an Opportunity – What Can We Learn About Ourselves?, in Waves, Vol. 13 No. 2, Marine and Coastal Community Network, 20, viewed 26 September 2008, http://oldmccn.iwayvietnam.com/article.php/id/1729/..

Wunungmurra, W 2008, ‘Journey goes full circle from Bark Petition to Blue Mud Bay’, ABC News Online, viewed 21 September 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/14/2334855.htm.

Tackling the financial and economic crisis

The OECD has created a new website with commentary, analysis and statistics "on the crisis we are facing".

Lies, damn lies and my weekly pay check

On the subject of measuring progress beyond the limits of GDP and NDP, the Financial Times has an article on statistical measures of progress. It's a good read and can be found on their website.

Progress, what progress?

The global economic crisis has focused minds on restoring growth. But does growth necessarily mean progress? What about factors which growth depends on, such as the environment or happiness? Measuring true progress demands new indicators and a major global project to develop them is now underway.

This is an extract from an opinion piece from Joseph Stiglitz in the oecd Observer. Click here to read the full editorial. Stiglitz is Chair of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.

Contested knowledges: Economics

This Galtha conversation will explore the subjects of economics as a knowledge system to be contested. It will do this by discussing four key questions (linked below). References will also be provided here. You can navigate by reading through the posts in order or by following these links that correspond to the four main questions being asked in this subject:

Introduction

What is at stake?

What is the status quo?

What are the alternatives?

What happens when different knowledges speak to each other?

References

And for a more light-hearted looks at the tenets of neo-classical economics, take a more amusing ride through the Dismal Science.

Introduction: the economic sky is falling

“The current mismanagement of our economy calls into question the basic concepts of contemporary economic thought. Most economists, although acutely aware of the current state of crisis, still believe that solutions to our problems can be found within the existing theoretical framework. This framework, however, is based on concepts and variables that originated several hundred years ago and have been hopelessly outdated by and technological changes. What economists need to do urgently is to re-evaluate their entire conceptual foundation and redesign their basic models and theories accordingly. The current economic crisis will be overcome only if economists are willing to participate in the paradigm shift that is now occurring in all fields” (Capra 1982, p193).

“Mr Rudd calls for a new era of social capitalism and blames the global financial crisis on policies of free market fundamentalism” (ABC News 2009)

Do you ever get that feeling of deja vu?

In 2009, the modern economic world sustained a large shock: both in the literal economic and existential senses of the word. Once again, economists have begun a process of questioning the fundamental assumptions underlying their worldview. Friedman (and his neo-classical Chicago School) is out (Madrick 2008) and Keynes is back in vogue (Kale 2008, Stratton & Seager 2008, Atkins, Giles & Guha 2008) and for many commentators this represents a seismic shift in modern economic theory..

Yet in many ways, economists are simply having the same tired old argument about dead white men who agree broadly on the most fundamental tenets of their theories. When Homan (1927) bemoaned the fact that in the late 19th century, “variations in economic theory consisted largely of disagreements among economists whose generally viewpoints were not widely different,” (p780) he could perhaps have been writing 90 years later. Arguments between proponents of classical or neo-classical economics versus neo-Keynesians re-enforce the sense of pursuing “truth”, while ignoring the historical and cultural antecedents of modern economic thought.

That the concepts underpinning modern economic theory - the market, production and labour - are normal and natural is an assumption deeply rooted in the theory, even though “the economy... is above all a cultural production, a way of producing human subjects and social orders of a certain kind” (Escobar 1995, p59). Economics and culture are inextricably combined, with each informing the other.

Capra (1982) quoting Lucia Dunn, argues that the idealistic picture of the perfect competitive economy that underlies modern economic theory has become so embedded that many economists no longer see them as assumptions (p200). Its basic assumptions - perfect and free information for all participants in a market transaction, the belief that each buyer and seller in a market has no influence on price, the complete and instant mobility of displaced workers, natural resources and machinery - are "violated in the vast majority of today's markets, yet most economists continue to use them as the basis of their theories (Capra 1982, p200).

Escobar (1995) notes that economists don’t see their science as a cultural discourse but as a neutral representation of that world. Homan (1927), writing just before the stock market crash that caused the Great Depression, noted the “widely divergent ideas of the purpose, scope and method of economics” when, in his words, “the objective data upon which economists must base their beliefs are the same for all” (p776). Homan (1927) explained these divergent beliefs on the “difficulties which beset the economic theorist in the complexity of his data or of the inadequate media of thought which men have devised for scientifically explaining their activities” (p776). Economics, Homan (1927) argues, is a valiant search toward an objective truth. For Escobar (1995), it is a socially and culturally-constructed worldview that embodies certain assumptions about truth and reality.

Capra (1982) argues that any re-examination of economics needs to acknowledge and deal with the underlying value system and recognise its cultural context.

Introduction

What is at stake?

What is the status quo?

What are the alternatives?

What happens when different knowledges speak to each other?

References

What is at stake?

Economics is grounded in what Berkes (1998) calls the “Cartesian paradigm” (p121): a rationalist approach that assumes the existence of a knowable external reality governed by absolute laws. Whether economics is a science is an ongoing argument in the Academy, but economics does reflect Western science’s reductionism.

“The development of positivist-reductionist science was closely linked to the emergence of industrialization (sic) and to economic theories of both capitalism and communism. Through the technological domination of the Earth, scientists and economists promised to deliver a more fair, rational, efficient and productive life for everyone” (Berkes 1998, p122).

The Western scientific framework underpinning economics has meant the negotiated meaning of the science has embedded assumptions in its narrative that are considered so self-evident as to be non-existent. Societies that fail or have failed to fit these assumptions have found themselves floundering against a wall of mutual incomprehension. Examples of this mutual incomprehension can be found in the interactions between mainstream Australian society and Indigenous Australians.

As Christie and Perrett state, the need for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to engage with each other requires discussions between divergent systems of knowledge, language and power. “In many such engagements,” say Christie and Perrett, “cultural miscues, misunderstandings and profound incomprehension can have consequences for relations between Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal development processes” (p57).

Christie and Perrett, along with Berkes (1998) are discussing Indigenous ecological knowledge. Nonetheless, the statement that Indigenous knowledge systems are fundamentally inconsistent with the positivist-reductionist tradition (p122) applies to economics as well as science, firstly because economics embodies the same positivistic-reductionist paradigm and secondly because of the holistic nature of many Indigenous cultures.

The Australian Aboriginal worldview is essentially holistic (Gostin & Chong 1994, p123) and in many ways it is impossible to separate out different facets of Aboriginal life and examine them in isolation of each other. While the European world view tends to separate the spiritual, natural and human domains, the Aboriginal world view sees every aspect of human life and the environment as equal manifestations of a spiritual or cosmic order (Gostin & Chons 1994, p123). Social factors are inextricably linked with political and economic factors (Young & Doohan 1989, p35) and therefore discussions of property, hierarchy, land, kinship and language must also incorporate spirituality, science, art, politics and economics, as each of these contains elements of the others.

“It is not possible to separate Indigenous science from other areas of life such as ethics, spirituality, metaphysics, social order, ceremony... (and therefore) remains inseparable from the cohesive whole, from a way of being and coming-to-knowing (Peat 1996, p139).

This holistic, versus atomised, conception of a society’s structure has traditionally been ignored by anthropologists, who “have contributed to naturalizing (sic) the constructs of economy, politics, religion, kinship and the like as the fundamental building blocks of societies” (Escobar 1995, p 61).

Like all practitioners of the social sciences, economists, notes Capra (1982) make the mistake of dividing the world into independent fragments thereby failing “to recognize (sic) that the economy is merely one aspect of a whole ecological and social fabric; a living system composed of human beings in continual interaction with one another and with their natural resources” (p189). Capra (1982) argues that practitioners of sciences, such as economics, attempting to emulate the methods of the “hard science” prototype of physics relied too much on the Cartesian framework and their models became consequently unrealistic.

According to Escobar (1995), this means that the dominance of modern economic thought has resulted in the suppression, appropriation or disregarding of other societal models and enshrining one hegemonic view of the economy.

Christie (1992) who has worked for many years in education systems describes the way in which the Western reductionism (which he refers to atomism) and abstraction embedded in our education system was conceptually almost impossible for his Yolgnu (Aboriginal) students to comprehend because of the highly metaphorical and negotiated nature of Yolgnu knowledge systems.

Wertheim (1995) contrasts the two knowledge systems: Western scientific knowledge is logically-underpinned by mathematics while the Yolgnu system is based on kinship, called gurrutu. As Peat (1996) asks, “why would people whose philosophy speaks of relationship, the primacy of direct experience, and the interconnectedness of all ever wish to divorce themselves from their world and fragment their experience with such acts of abstraction?” (p138).

Broader though than the implications for inter-cultural interactions, the assumption of objective truth underlying economic thought has, according to Berkes (1998), been accompanied by the belief that all cultures would eventually adopt Western notions of human development and well-being.

“Development economists have typically projected social and economic change in a way that leads all cultures to adopt one correct Western way of thinking. This then justified, for example, policies like exporting development to Africa and the assimilation of indigenous peoples” (Berkes 1998, p123).

Introduction

What is at stake?

What is the status quo?

What are the alternatives?

What happens when different knowledges speak to each other?

References

What is the status quo?

The conception of the economy as a distinct object of study dates back only to the 18th century when the works of Cantillon, David Hume, and especially Adam Smith, reflected the idea that laws regarding the production and distribution existed and were waiting to be discovered (Hausman 2008). This historical construct of economics as an autonomous domain is indicative of the tendency to separate social life into discrete spheres that is a quintessential aspect of modernity (Escobar 1995).

Escobar (1995) states that in its classical formulation , political economy was structured around the notions of production and labour and was founded on the works (in Escobar’s opinion) of Marx, Ricardo and Adam Smith; known as the “father of economics” (Wikipedia 2008).

Smith wrote what the Economist (2008) refers to the “bible of Classical Economics”: ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’, in which he proposed the concept of the ‘Invisible Hand’. The ‘Invisible Hand’, as outlined by Hausman (2008) postulates that an individual pursuing self-interest in free markets leads to the most efficient use of economic resources and benefits society generally. In the words of Capra (1982), the individual self-interest of everyone from consumers to entrepreneurs would result in the betterment of all (with betterment being described as the production of material wealth).

Capra (1982) describes Smith as a broad and imaginative thinker who enthusiastically advocated the social and industrial changes he saw happening around him. Capra describes a theorist who was in many ways arguing against the mercantilist economic assumptions of his time: Instead of wealth being increased by foreign trade and the hoarding of valuables, he postulated that wealth was generated by the division of labour.

Capra (1982) argues that Smith based his economic theory on Newtonian physics, embedding within it Newtonian notions of equilibration, laws of motion and scientific objectivity (p200) It is this model of perfect competition undertaken by rational and fully-informed participants that still informs economics today (Capra 1982, 200).

This alignment of economics with science continued with David Ricardo and other classical economists, who “consolidated economics into a set of dogmas…with the “scientific” argument that “laws of nature” were operating” (Capra 1982, p202).

The 19th century was dominated by classical economic reformers, such as the influential John Stuart Mill and the more famous, and more controversial, Karl Marx. Mills built upon the foundations laid down by Ricardo and Malthus to create what Capra (1982) calls a “herculean reassessment” (p202) of the classical economics of his time, entitled ‘Principles of Political Economy’. According to Wilson (2003), Mill proposed that beyond the motive of financial gain and economic self-interest there were other reasons that could motivate people and that, moreover, institutional and societal structures, not to mention sheer force of habit, could determine economic behaviour. Economics was concerned only with production and scarcity of means and the mechanisms for the distribution (of wealth) were determined politically rather than economically (Capra 1982). The laws of production, he argued, “partake of the character of physical truths”, while the distribution of wealth was a “matter of human institution” (Wilson 2003).

Capra (1982) says that this separated out social factors from political economy, narrowing the scope of the science to a pure economics that would later be referred to as “neo-classical” (p203); the school of economic thought that is most influential right up to the present day.

In contrast, Marx, while still pursuing the Cartesian and Newtonian methods of the classical and neo-classical economists (Capra 1982, p208) presented the argument that, by narrowing the scope of economic inquiry to the economic core process, ethical issues of distribution were being evaded (p206).

“In his critique he went beyond social issues and often revealed deep humanistic insights...he also had profound insights into the interrelatedness of all phenomena, seeing society as an organic whole in which ideology and technology were equally important (Capra 1982, p209).

Following the Great Depression, the theories of John Maynard Keynes had a decisive influence on modern economic thought (Capra 1982, p209) by proposing that economic equilibriums were exceptions rather than the rule and that government intervention was necessary to smooth business cycles (Capra 1982). Considering that increased emphasis on Keynesian economics in the modern world (see the Introduction), Capra, writing in the early 1980s is surprisingly dismissive, describing his model as “inappropriate” for the modern world (p211).

Introduction

What is at stake?

What is the status quo?

What are the alternatives?

What happens when different knowledges speak to each other?

References

What are the alternatives?

"The mainstream or neoclassical economics story is not specific in time or place. It is told as a universal tale of all humanity. Regardless of our class, race, gender or culture, say the economists, we can all identify with it" (Sharp 1994, p26).

Neo-classical economists believe theirs is a factual representation of the way the world "really is" but there are other economic stories. Sharp (1994) outlines an argument that the traditional assumptions of neo-classical economists exclude women’s economic stories because it tends to concentrate on its tools of analysis, rather than the issues it is analysing. Neo-classical economics therefore refuses to evaluate the equity of particular policies because it assumes that all people make decisions in the same, predictable, way regardless of class, gender or race.

Sharp (1994) is concerned with developing a form of economics that includes women’s stories, however the criticisms she levels at mainstream economic theory can also be applied to cultural issues.

In Australia, this is highlighted particularly in mainstream interactions with people from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background. As noted in "what is at stake", Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures have a kinship-based, rather than mathematically-based, culture that conceptualises the world as an inter-connected mesh of relationships. Keen (2004) describes the centrality of kin relations to Aboriginal economic systems in various Aboriginal groups all over Australia: "everywhere kin relations extended to the whole social universe, structured social roles and incorporated certain common features of kin classification and avoidance relations" (p392).

Keen (2004) describes his approach to studying the economy and society of Aboriginal people at the "threshold of civilisation" as a substantivist rather than formalist approach. In the formalist approach, says Keen (2004), the economy is about the choices people make in the allocation of scarce resources; an approach he argues that is most appropriate for market economies. Analysing indigenous economies requires a substantivist approach because the economy is embedded in other institutions (p4).

This embeddedness is an aspect of most indigenous knowledge systems and is what distinguishes it from Western scientific knowledges Indigenous knowledges are also local and practical concerned with ‘doing’ rather than simply ‘knowing’. (Peat 1996).

Bourke (1994) outlines the economic system of Aboriginal people before the arrival of the Europeans. He says that this life was distinguished by: sharing and co-operation; mobility within the boundaries of their ancestral lands; and significant diversity in economic life between groups in different geographical areas. Keen (2004) describes this as being the antithesis of capitalism because the goods exchanged or shared in gift economies are not commodified but retain their links to the giver (p5).

This reciprocity, as defined by Schwab (2006) is not the kind of ‘primitive communism’ misconception, where ownership is vague or non-existent and sharing is the prescribed mode of interaction (p2). Rather, reciprocity based on kinship is a mode of economic exchange, where an exchange involves an obligation to repay (Keen 2004, p336).

Keen (2004) notes that the type of relationship between individuals determined the type of gifts that were exchanged. Certain relationships, such as wife’s mother-daughter’s husband, required certain gifts (p337).

Schwab calls this reciprocity a kind of "demand sharing". Kin can demand generosity and refusal is punished through shame. This ethos is expressed by: the distribution of food in traditional society based on kinship to everyone but the hunter; the obligation to offer shelter to any relative who asks; borrowing of money by kin as soon as it becomes available; and complex strategic behaviour to avoid sharing such as hiding money.

According to Peterson (1993) demand sharing is characteristic of small-scale societies for good reason - by its nature, the hunting and gathering life involves risk and uncertainty and under such conditions, sharing appears to make good economic sense (p865) - and has only been neglected because of the different conception that the mainstream ontology places on generosity: that of outwardly unsolicited and altruistic giving (p861). Peterson (1993) uses the example of the Yolgnu practice of wamarrkane to demonstrate that reciprocity is far from altruistic: a Yolgnu person who compliments another may then make a substantial demand of the person they have complimented.

Apart from the collectivism inherent in a society that practices extensive demand-sharing, Keen (2004) outlines the Australian aboriginal economy has having the following characteristics: land tenure determined by kin relations with senior residents having control of the means of production through controlling access to Country; specialised organisation of production itself by particularly gender and age, with men hunting large game and women gathering vegetable matter and hunting smaller game; and the distribution and consumption of the produced goods being determined by kin through complex reciprocity arrangements.

Introduction

What is at stake?

What is the status quo?

What are the alternatives?

What happens when different knowledges speak to each other?

References

What happens when different knowledges speak to each other?

Northern Australia is one area where different knowledge systems interact on a daily basis: the mainstream individualistic, materialistic, Cartesian and reductionist system interacting with Aboriginal Australian holistic system of collectivism and reciprocity.

Berkes (1998) states that Indigenous knowledge is complementary to Western scientific knowledge, essentially arguing that the two knowledge systems can never be combined (p179). However, Altman (2003a, 2003b, 2004, 2006) has written extensively on blending the two perspectives on economic development into what he describes as a ‘hybrid economy’ where the customary (or Aboriginal), market (or private) and state (or public) sectors all interact.

Altman (2003a) notes that according to orthodox economic theory, the socio-economic status of residents of remote Indigenous communities is the lowest of all Australians because of an absence of significant market or private sector economies and therefore Indigenous residents of such communities should migrate elsewhere to engage with the market economy. Altman’s (2004) argument is that, in the remote northern Australian communities he is analysing, the economies have been in apparent continual crisis, according to official statistics, because the customary economy has been overlooked while the Western market has been relatively absent.

By acknowledging the interactions between all three economies, Altman (2004) is confident that economic development opportunity can be delivered that matches Indigenous aspirations and structural reality in remote Indigenous Australia.

"Participation in the customary sector is not just materially productive; it also speaks to the...ideology of looking after and having a reciprocal relationship with a sentient landscape" (Altman 2003b, p73).

Altman (2006) states that he "discovered" the hybrid economy during research he undertook at a remote Arnhem Land outstation. There, the non-market or subsistence sector based on harvesting of wildlife was the dominant component of the economy. Rather than being a so-called "traditional" or pre-contact economy, Altman (2006) states that the economy is contemporary and distinctly Indigenous: it has market and state sectors and is based on a "series of conjunctions or articulations between all sectors" (p1).

"This proposed approach is about growing activity in all sectors of the economy, the market, the non-market and the state. It is about enhancing livelihood options for Indigenous people, wherever they choose to live, in ways that are socially and culturally compatible with local aspirations. If such a model is pursued, something that has never been tried if even considered, we might just see other unanticipated benefits emerge for Indigenous people, for regions and for the nation" (Altman 2006, p6).

Altman has a selection of case studies in his 2004 paper. Follow the links below to view them:

Altman Case Study 1

Altman Case Study 2

Altman Case Study 3

Altman (2004) is not just proposing economic benefits of recognising and promoting hybrid economies. "In my view," he argues, "the group ownership (common property) and inalienable nature of Indigenous land and native title rights (and customary use rights) provides incentive to ensure that economic activity is ecologically sustainable and that environmental degradation is minimised so that the land and its natural resource base are available intergenerationally" (Altman 2004, p522).

The Desert Knowledge CRC has a wide range of case studies on projects that successfully combine Western scientific and Indigenous knowledges for ecological sustainabiliy and economic gain.

Introduction

What is at stake?

What is the status quo?

What are the alternatives?

What happens when different knowledges speak to each other?

References

References

Adam Smith, Wikipedia, viewed 2 February 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith

Atkins, R, Giles, C & Guha, K 2008, ‘The Undeniable Shift to Keynes’, The Financial Times, viewed 31 January 2009, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8a3d8122-d5da-11dd-a9cc-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Altman, J 2003a, ‘Economic Development and Participation for Remote Indigenous Communities: Best Practice, Evident Barriers, and Innovative Solutions in the Hybrid Economy’, Presentation to Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (MCATSIA), Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, www.anu.edu.au/caepr/

Altman, J 2003b, 'People on country, healthy landscapes and sustainable Indigenous economic futures: The Arnhem Land Case', The Drawing Board: An Australian Review of Public Affairs, Volume 4, Number 2, pp65-82.

Altman, J 2004, ‘Economic development and Indigenous Australia: contestations over property, institutions and ideology’, The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 48:3, pp513-534.

Altman, J 2006, ‘The Indigenous hybrid economy: A realistic sustainable option for remote communities?’ CAEPR Topical Issue No. 2/2006, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, www.anu.edu.au/caepr/

Berkes, F 1998, ‘Indigenous Knowledge as Challenge to the Positivist-Reductionist Paradigm’,Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management, Taylor and Francis, London.

Bourke, C 1994, ‘Economics: Independence or Welfare’, in Bourke, Bourke & Edwards (eds), Aboriginal Australia. An Introductory Reader in Aboriginal Studies, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, pp179-198.

Capra, F 1982, Science, Society and the Rising Culture, Bantam, New York.

Christie, M.J., ‘Grounded and Ex-centric Knowledges: Exploring Aboriginal Alternatives to Western Thinking’, paper presented at the Fifth International Conference on Thinking, Townsville, Australia, 7 July 1992.

Christie, M.J. and Perrett W, ‘Negotiating Resources: Language, knowledge and the search for "secret English" in north-east Arnhem Land’ in Howitt, R et al., Resources, Nations and Indigenous Peoples, Oxford University Press, Australia.

Escobar, A 1995, ‘Economics as Culture’ in Encountering Development: The Making and the Unmaking of the Third World, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, pp58-63.

Gostin, O & Chong, A 1994, ‘Living Wisdom: Aborigines and the Environment’, in Bourke, Bourke & Edwards (eds), Aboriginal Australia: An Introductory Reader in Aboriginal Studies, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, pp123-139.

Hausman, Daniel M., "Philosophy of Economics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/economics/.

Homan, P. T. 1927, ‘The Impasse in Economic Theory’, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 35, No. 6, pp776-803, viewed 2/12/2008, www.jstorg/stable/1822132

Kale, S 2008, ‘A Global Keynesian Revival’, The Wall Street Journal, viewed 29 Jan 2009, http://www.livemint.com/2008/02/21000738/A-global-Keynesian-revival.html

Keen, I 2004, Aboriginal Economy and Society: Australia at the Threshold of Civilisation, Oxford Univesity Press, Melbourne.

Madrick, J 2008, ‘The End of the Age of Milton Friedman’, The Huffington Post, viewed 30 Jan 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-madrick/the-end-of-the-age-of-mil_b_94228.html

Peat, F.D 1996, Blackfoot Physics: A Journey into the Native American Universe, Fourth Estate, London.

Peterson, N 1993, ‘Demand Sharing: Reciprocity and the Pressure for Generosity among Foragers’, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 95, No. 4, pp. 860-874, viewed 29/01/2009, www.jstor.org/stable/683021

Schwab, R.G. 2006 (1995). ‘The calculus of reciprocity: Principles and implications of Aboriginal sharing’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 100, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, www.anu.edu.au/caepr/Publications/DP/1995_DP100.pdf

Sharp, R 1994, ‘The power of a feminist economics’, Refractory Girl, no. 49, Spring 1995, pp26-33.

Stratton, A and Seager, A 2008, ‘Darling invokes Keynes as he eases spending rules to fight recession’, guardian.co.uk, viewed 26 Jan 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/20/economy-recession-treasury-energy-housing

Wade, N 2007, ‘In Dusty Archives, a Theory of Affluence’, New York Times, viewed 23 Jan 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/science/07indu.html?_r=1&ei=5070&en=a700be10040f0414&ex=1187323200&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all

Wertheim, M 1995, ‘The Way of Logic’, New Scientist, December 2 1995, pp38-41.

Wilson, F., "Philosophy of Economics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill/

Young, E., and Doohan, K., 1989, Mobility for survival: a process analysis of Aboriginal population movement in Central Australia, Australian National University North Australia Research Unit, Darwin

Introduction

What is at stake?

What is the status quo?

What are the alternatives?

What happens when different knowledges speak to each other?

References

Altman Case Study 1

I first worked in central Arnhem Land with Kuninjku harvesters in 1979–1980. At that time, with welfare just arriving, the customary sector accounted for the major part of the local economy: 64 per cent of cash and imputed income was generated by the customary; 26 per cent by welfare (the state); and 10 per cent from the sale of art (the market).

In recent research undertaken with the same people at the same places in 2002–03 I estimated that with full incorporation into the social security system these proportions have changed somewhat. Now the customary is relatively smaller at 32 per cent and the state larger (at 57 per cent) while the market sector is similar.

Nevertheless for an average Kuninjku outstation of 25 people, customary activity generates an estimated A72 800 worth of food per annum, an estimated 1540 per hunt. This is not just activity that generates imputed income, it indirectly generates cash and it enhances people’s
diet, nutrition and health status.

Source: Altman 2004, pp522-523

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Altman Case Study 2

Indigenous visual art is an important example of how productive activity, founded on customary practice, has been modified for the market. It has recently been estimated that sales are valued at a minimum A100 m per annum Australia-wide, with most art produced at remote communities. The recently launched Northern Territory (NT) Indigenous Arts Strategy notes that this activity is a significant employer and source of cash income in regional and remote communities where opportunities for market engagement are rare. The Strategy also notes that the arts support a range of positive cultural and social outcomes. It is estimated that 5000–6000 arts practitioners engage in visual arts production, yet there is little recognition in official statistics of this high level of participation.

Source: Altman 2004, p523

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Altman Case Study 3

In the NT, the Northern Land Council’s Caring for Country community-based ranger programs are aiming to manage Aboriginal-owned land and sea natural resources sustainably: the terrestrial jurisdiction covered is currently about 170 000 sq kms and the coastal/intertidal zone covers about 85 per cent of the NT total. About 35 community-based ranger programs are
underway, providing activity for about 300 Aboriginal people with funding coming mainly from the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme and Natural Heritage Trust. Some community-based rangers are also engaged in additional commercial utilisation of wildlife
like crocodile eggs and hatchlings.

Ranger programs focus on the eradication of noxious weeds, like mimosa, and the management of feral animals and pests, including crazy ants, cats, pigs, horses, donkeys and buffalo.
An informal institution, the North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance has evolved to integrate activity across the tropical savanna. Some alliances are emerging with the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to test feral animals for disease, and community-based ranger programs could play an important role in eco-services delivery and in bio-security in remote and underpopulated regions.

This is a case where the customary is delivering private and public good: community, regional
and national benefits are generated and are also assisting Australia meet international obligations in biodiversity conservation.

Source: Altman 2004, pp523-524

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