(Session15-Monday) Transnational Tourism

The era of globalization has been activated, simultaneously fabricates by the two main domains; technologizations and capitalizations. In which, an interesting one is capitalist movemet because it introduce us the pathway leading to new fantacized world especially pioneering to creation for business and investment in the Third World, or, some part that advanced technology still cannot explore it. The flows of money, capital, as well as the eminent mobility of people since after the World War II reflects many changies. The European seems to flowly across each of their own neighboring countres in region, and by large explosion of massive flows, the mobilization both from voluntary or involutary migration is emerged expandily. The 'time' becomes one factor that we need to concern simultaneously with the scale and transnational space. The transnational perspective and many lessons from the previous session are very beneficial from looking the world into many scales can trace the route of understanding the general picture of world flexibility. Nevertheless, it is important to admit the other lens for searching the mechanism or fuel within cooperating model, such as 'Tourism'. Many peple may percieve that tourism isn't affect any social relations in the transnational scale, but it seems to play really initiative role to discloe the one remote community, and then slightly pervasive changing in varius aspects of life of local residents. The 'migrant' is a key actor for transformationthe community, even though each of them may have unequal dominate power and come into that society with various objectives.      

According to Torress and Momsen article, they try to induce the research on this transnational tourism and its effects that coherently expose many interesting ideas that normal travellers, tourists, or businessmen may no think when they are staying there. The highlight of "Globogoland or Gringorandia" has exemplified through the case of fabulous travelling place and resorts in Cancun, Mexico. The mixture of American lifestyles, Mexican dream, and artficial Mayan realm seem to altogether stand in this area by the means for tourism. Tourism is very best for foreign in term of their investment in new challenging environment and many recieved profits. Tourism also basically develop the country with high GDP around 70 per cent is coming from the tourst industry. From the 'Empty Land' has been developed expandily and modernly throguh the projects of government, including private sector that has many convenient to joint in especially after the 1980s neoliberalist sheding the light to this Latin American Region. Many TNCs or foreign companies avoid the direct investment by choosing the franchise and contact forms, instead. The tourism is not only affect te structure of power andeconomic of that society, but it increasingly intrude the daily life of residents as in the cultural ways of living; eating, clothes, social preferences. Moreover, it also creates directly the uneven or disparities in term of redistribution of wealth and developent. As Torres and Momsen stated in their article;

"  While constructing Gringolandia as a hybrid space, the interaction between the various forces and actors embeded in Cancun's transnational social fields has also created inequalities that have become iprinted on the landscape... ,constructed a highly inequitable economic and physical lndscape in which the wealthy tourist bubble remains the targeted beneficiary of capital, infrastructure, and services, while the workers' shantytown continues to struggle with squalid conditions and povery "(Torress and Momsen's Gringolandia: The Construction of a New Tourist Space in Mexico , page 326).

The tourism in Cancun is based predominantly on American value and pattern of tourist. The ways of residentual living style slightly get burred and transform in torespond the further one congromerated by the favors of tourist, entrepeuners, and investors. This example is similar with spectacular globalization that we can see the different grounds or layers of scale intertwinely operated within the one region. The main topic for consideration is to classify what is the suitable way of mutual gains for promoting tourism as psychological booster for tourist while, simultaneously, focusing on the sufficient lifeof people in localities and reducing discrimination as much as possible. Because the "Cancun" is the one reflector o the watershed of uneven development in which now we are confronting more and more Cancun or this Gringolandia in every parts of the world, in Thailand as well. The example for cse of Thailand, I observe the area of Nakhon Ratchasima province stretching around the Khao Yai Nationl Park, many advancement convinced by the urban elites and appeal many retirees and investor from foreign cuntries to join the tourist industry in the franchise pattern. The 'green' travelling becomes slogan to promote the travel natural loving or closing wth the natural resources. Many resorts ad villages was built enormous and its modernity is not lesser than having in big cities, there has big roads with concrete that some village in the Northern part still haveno such kind f commodities. The hospital and department store is located far from that around 30 kms. This provides many incomes to the country but question remains that the profit is for landlords, private firms, or local resdents. Eventhough, residents have more job ocupied as labor in the resort, but it is legitimate to consume the resources around there or not. Because the providing of electicity and water supply must compensate with large scale construction of dams, and the later problems are heavily affect the poor people in that area to move out their own lands. The local residents still confront with the feature of second hometown booming in which the retired foreigners chose as their final destination with big money loaning or buying the house in village project. That one villa started at 15 million bath, I supposed that it is not create for Thai residents around there for sure and I see one rhetoric in that area.The restaurant and travel environment was promoted under the slogan of 'Switzerland of Thailand," we now are eating steak or wear the cowboy suit, and go to sheep farm that was created with windmills and western's coutryside architecture, for sure, nt see a Thai style pavillion existed there. Also the trend of this world is changeable and it sees dramatically forward by the chain connectedness of capitalist movement, including mobilization of the one who once seen as a short term factor or minor considered in other circumstances within transnational fields, 'travellor'.    

The pictures of resort and restaurant in Khao Yai area

 

(For Session16: Khagram) Progressive Development or Being Developed

Transnatioal Struggles:

The term 'development' has been used intellectually and in pragmatist sense with various end results. Many dvelopmen projects were initiated long time ago starting within the Western Europe and Nortern America, especially for tyhe large scale or mega project that it provides indirectly the negative repulsion from many factions in counry or such community. The one of eminent example for describing the transnational struggles is dam building projects. In which it tremendously increases in this twentieth century, such in a kind of hydroelectric dams, the Soviet's Desprotoi as the first one. 

The Graph exhibit the power output from the dam

The Three Gorges Dam is mega project of China to build up the hydroelectric dam for distributing the power engine across the country. This masterwork is the success of Chinese government to establish the world's largest power station which the installed capacity approximately 22,500 MWand total generating capacity of 18,200 MW. It has proved expensive and controversial due to the rehousing of 1.4 million people and the flooding of more than 1,000 towns and villages. Pollution, silt and landslides have plagued the reservoir area. Given the 254bn yuan (£24bn) cost and political prestige at stake, the government focused for many years on the dam's achievements and attempted to stifle domestic criticism of the project(Source:www.guardian.co.uk). At the same time that the Three Gorges project provides huge comprehensive benefits, urgent problems must be resolved regarding the smooth relocation of residents, ecological protection and geological disaster prevention, this has claimed by the government. In which, we can see that it may have some agenda beinded the scene and how we guarantee what is the smooth relocaion becaue the publishing of media or newspaper are always screened under the eyesight of Chinese authoritative body, especially the local media.

But its public analysis has become increasingly sober. Many anti-dam activist also provide various points of criticism. The government has already raised its budget for water treatment plants but opponents of the dam say this is not enough. "The government built a dam but destroyed a river," said Dai Qing, a longtime critic of the project. "No matter how much effort the government makes to ease the risks, it is infinitesimal. The state council is spending more money on the project rather than investigating fully. I cannot see a real willingness to solve the problem." As Sanjeev Khagram proposed in article about the case of China that;

 "...The absence of both domestic socil mobilization and the persistence of a dominant authoritarian regime has resulted in even less change in the dynamics of big dam building than in Indonesia. [...] But the case of the Three Gorges does highlight that even when transnationally allied anti-dam activity has encountered unfavorable domestic-level conditions, it has increasingly been able to have a noticeable and non-negligible effect on development processes and oucomes" (Khagram's Dams,Democracy, and Development, P.161).   

The one sifnificant factor leading to the effectiveness of collective action is based on the mobilization of the available resources inside that community, and this factor also intertwined with the transnational linkages from domestic actors and the global spread or institutionalization of norms or international regimes on some spcific domain. The transnational structuration processes will be the most succesful in changing developmnt outcomes when it linked to those domestic actors with the ability to generate social mobilization, especially in the context of democratic degree. We cannot percieve from the higher or formal perspective to learn about this kind of transnational struggles. We need the two lens and steps of this transformaion to response the direction of flows and integration on the large scale pictures. Starting from informal and short term coalitions to more formal and institutionalized issue networks and organizations, by comparison intiated 'Transnationalisms from Below' evolving to 'Transnationalisms from Above'. The continued transnationalization of communictions, transportation, and economiuc exchange has obviously facilitated the emergence and perseverance of forms of these coordinated and collective action. Also the better way for starting is to make sure that the transformation flows in which directions and it has any obstacles or inhibitor factor to impede this transformation or international regimes, or not.

Humanism on a Rail

Who should be a citizen of one political community or how one get promote to recieve at least own freedom for reachin th basic needs is the long chronical standard inquiry that remains the wide junction to be fulfilled. The concept of 'citizenship' and terminology of 'refugee' also be demarcated mainly into various means as if our destiny for being human belong to some particular and specific context of power relations in one space. Many people generally think that the humanitarian aid and assistance should be apolitical and dehistoricizing those kinds of priori context. But after I have read articles from Aihwa Ong from last week and Malkki's Cultural Anthropology, these two pieces of interesting critiques gives many further considerations beyond the old ideas and general perceptions of ordinary people who are not familiar with the refugee or this field may ignore these statements, while unthinkable point on the liberalism with cooperatin and some apolitical universal organizing on relieving other human sufferings. From Ong, we met the concept of 'Cultural Citizenship' and got some idea about how conventional meanings of citizenship described. For this week, I suppose to have further critical point given by Malkki that reflect some interesting point; the totally dehistoricizing humanitarian intervention or assistance is not the positive shed of light in the eyes of real world, especially through other lens of people, not refugee.

" The problem is that th necessary delivery of relief and also long term assistance is accompanied by a host of other, unannounced social processes and practices that are dehistoricizing. This dehistoricizing universalism creates a context in which it is dificult for people in the refugee category to be approachd as historical actors rather than simply as mute victims " (Liisa Malkki's Speechless Emissaries: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and Dehistoricization, page 378).           

The humanitarian practices tend to silence refugees and keep their passion in the freezing passive zone. And many preventive measures under the domain of humanitarian operation and help will be mobilised if, at least, the disaster both from natural and human-made has already happened. Also the presupposed or preriquisited norms or logics will be activated during that time of crises emerged. In her article has examplify about case in African region especially the Rwanda, 1994, one of the worst genocide in human history as I saw. In this region always as routine confronting of ethnic violence, for Rwanda, the Tutsi tribesmen from Uganda got along the struggling with Hutu, the majority tribesmen in Rwanda but they didn't hold any superior in military or arms strength. Many Hutu Rwandan emigrates to neighboring countries like in Zaire, Tanzania, and elsewhere. While those host countries has whispered to the UN to promote the repatriation of refugees back to their home Rwanda, after the they seem to hide in its other plants. In this kind of situation, it's easier to positively push forward on the track of humanitarian assistance through negotiation and then sending the Hutu back thei home, by apolitical an dehistoricizing conglomerate operations. But the way by that relects the conversed value in which it is silencing the voice of suffer by focusing other voices, instead. Like ties them back to the place whereby we cannot totally guarantee their safety. And they are not sure that place is still old home or not. The humanitarian assistance is very good concept at first place but it also enlarges the gap to define or include essential core in the mind of refugee. While some exclusion always spring out from this discourse like the registeration of legal refugee is needed in order to reachable appeal the attention from outsided organizations. Also the voices of refugee are still mute and remote from our eyesight and hearing them. It's better to not reclaim one universal standardized operation by excluding many specific historic and context of that suffering groups because we will not know the ways behind te scene.

" If humanitarian can only constitute itself on the bodies of dehistoricized, archetypal refugees and oter similarly styed victims...

If clinical and philanthropic modes of humanitarianism are the only options... 

Then citizenship in this human community itself remains curously, indecently, outside of history"  (Malkki's Cultural Anthropology, page 398).

             

Immigrant: Innocent or Intruder

Be Panic-Stricken with 'Subversion':

The immigrants become threatening in the eyes of many countries, in this case, from the articles tended to focus on the American traditional ways and values as the land of liberty; while, is confronting the threats of violent and new particular type of aggression as called 'terrorism.' According to Gary Gerstle in his article, described many interesting and convincing story lines about the immigration flows and its later impacts in the American society for the tendency of 'subversive' behavior. The generics of subversion can be categorized into four main categories which are the religious, political, economic, and racial typology.  

 " 'Race' is a political category that can accommodate various meanings which are in turn determined by struggle... racial differentiation has become a feature of institutional structures-legal subjectivity of citizenship-as well as individual action" (Paul Gilroy's statement in Aihwa Ong's Cultural Citizenship as Subject-Making, page 739).    

Racial differentiation is one main factor in my opinion that eradicates and affects the ways of one's feeling and his or her standpoint in the ground of society. Human born with different tied bloods and have own traditional ways of living in which our locality always crash whenever we move into new places whereby the authentic cultural performance of that area remains existing. From article of Ong, explained about "Cultural Citizenship" that is a dual process of self-making and being-made within webs of power linked to the nation-state and civil society (Ong:1996,p.738). It seems obviously that the subversive indicator lead to tightly engulf the process of subjectification in mono-lime. The process of 'Whiten' has created the repulsive divisions in many societies globally since nineteen century. How to define whose status and duty is generally based on the phenotype of group that people along with especially from their ancestor backgrounds. In case of American society, as we have Anglo-Saxon as the superior one while the Oriental, Asian and African American become the inferior races in the country. For religious subversion for American society, for sure, is according from the migrations of Catholic Irish confronting the Protestant conservatism and native elites. The papal system apprehended the American, and new Act was exposed to deal with the expansion of this new locating group in many aspects of life. For political one during the WWI, German and Austrian people faded away and moved to America; nevertheless, the strong spirit of hardworking and crashing over class led the new wave of consideration in cooperating with massive movements of labors in many states of America, including their protests and strike offs. Also subversion has emerged in various aspect both in peaceful environment, and, especially in high tension phase like wartime.                

"The historical record instructs us that war or near-war situations often put immigrants at risk, especially if those immigrants have come from a part of the world or belong to a race or religion perceived to be the enemy of the United States" (Gary Gerstle's The Immigrant as Threat to American Society, page 105).    

However, it is still obscured to definitely classify or even draw a line in society of what who is intruder or supporter whose loyalty is worthy enough for 'New World'. The Japanese American is an one example described the inevitable division and exclusive dominance from the American society. Because the political during WWII and racial subversion had accumulated simultaneously as increasing awareness for Native Americans concerned. From above one hypothesis is the concern uprising more and more in the wartime and near-war tension that need particular sense of solidarity and homogeneity, in which it needs to clarify by reemerging any groups of people while thoroughly excludes the risky groups having less or more tied with the religious, racial, and political sense with one who is now enemy of the U.S. The stories from the past further exhibit similar situations emerged in this current era. That 'War on Terror' can directly and indirectly regenerate many subversive locus that envisages the risk tendency to security and activate the hyper mode of government to exercise own overreaching powers over the people, no matters who and how, his or her, called themselves or were called after regrouping and putting GPS on their bodies as 'CITIZEN' in that state or travels inside the territory.        

Political Cord with Homo Sapiens

Human Beings and Politics:

"facta quidem igitur vivendi gratia, existens autem gratia bene vivendi"

"Born with regard to life, but existing essentially with regard to the good life" (Aristotle's quotation in Giorgio Agamben's Homo Sacer, page 2).  

 We know and live in the World where is familiar, yet strange rhythm exposes every minute since we born and tied with something. The 'politics or politik' as a term of human being's innovative construction has been overemphasized since the Classical period. According to Aristotle, a great Greek philosoher, described the human beings, as a ' living animal with the additional capacity for political existence.' But the main problematic struggling in our world until nowadays that our constructing attempts reflected by the word or term is now converting our narration on the way of our creativity. Many people pretend the politics and state having solid relationship by putting the equation, as these two terms are casual of another one. After state has originated, the politics becomes inevitably coincidence with the narrative management and consideration on the way of living (bios). The concept of sovereignty and the "State Power" sprang the eminent roles in many aspect, in such a way, occasionally, we cannot catch up with, or, even classify the criterion surrounded ourselves. Human beings is in an awkward predicament, as if the imaginative creator had been confused with the own masterpiece and always fell asleep, until decision was made and its consequence is now returning in the other round of vital circle.

Human beings, both of man, and, especially for woman always been tied with something existing out there beyond them. As a product of politics leads to many interpretations and inquiries until now. In the traditional way of perceiving state power via the concrete lens is encoded by juridical and institutional state based. Michel Foucault, a post-structuralist pioneer, is very active during his lifetime to propose the movement of emancipation of the traditional approach, especially, the lens perceiving the politics based on juridico-institutional models. Foucault comes up with the concept of 'Bio-politic,' tried to analyse the ways of human shaping this political regime rather than looking on the existing model as a one side of view. He suggested the political "double-bind" in which it constituted by individualization and the simultaneous totalization of strucetures of modern power. In other hand, Foucault drew a distinct lines between political objectivism and individual subjectivism; the study of political techniques with which state assumes and integrates the care of the natural life of individuals into its center, and the technologies of the self by which processes of subjectivization bring the individual into bind himself to his own identity and consciousness and external power. But there are many arguments later on about how to separately focus one of specific line while separate the another one.

Besides of State and Politics, also have the neutral domains playing a role variously in the democratic organizing system. The religious, economic, cultural, legal, and scientific domain are the antitheses of political one. Politics has no definite distinction that we can tangibly measure like locale of other domains; legally just versus unjust, economic benefit and non-profit, scientific success or failed labs, or etc. The politics can be narrowly settled in some distinction between friend and enemy, this sense provides the demarcation of strange alien and internal grouping. By implicit, as Schmit stated, the phenomenon of the political can be understood only in the context of the ever present possibility of the friend-and enemy grouping, regardless of the aspects which this possibility implies for morality, aesthetics, and economics. 'War' is the existential negation of enemy as long as this divisible enemy remains valid. And war can originate internally within an organized unit as civil war, and externally armed combat between organized political entities. But it is not the aim or purpose, nor the content of the politics as well. Nevertheless, this criterion of the friend-and enemy distinction is not implies directly for the durable enemy or forever friend as state posting in the system, only possible when neutrality overcomes. Moreover, it has more complexity when other antitheses, especially, the religion, came jointly in the tendency of the political context in sophisticated hybridization or whenever the line get blurred. It exhibits the decisive friend-or-enemy constellation pursued by other antitheses intertwining.  There 'purity' become contaminated and it does not occur recently in this age of Global Capitalist World. But it has been culminated for long time, one of an example is 'Crusade War,' the longest conflicts initiated the enormous devastation at the end. The main root of this war actually originated from the divergent of religious motivation and faith of believers. But how come the religion could lead the people to combat and kill each others, there also had deep-rooted factor. For sure, we cannot one hundred said that it has no related with other domains (esp. political and balancing of power including state's interest). Politics jumped in and played a role for long time, up til now, terrorist movements become one threatened the world rather than the conventional and civil wars. I assume that there are many terrorist groups that see the state or other entities as the evil in which should be utterly destroyed, and they proud to be a God heaven knight as there strong believes. One of them, I fellow, is "Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)," a radical Islamist, operated mainly in this Southeast Asia and have connection with the al-Qaeda. This terrorist group has main object against the colonial dominance, we may see some correlations among this event and the war in the past. There are not purely one motivation to attack others. As though, the complexity seemed to be distinct one in the way that several pejorative implications or actions of human beings has articulated within the field of separatism and core division, we-ness and they-ness. The field that was obviously influenced from political interpretation, the religion as an example of loosing-pureness and was contaminated whenever political has strong intrusive power equipped new weapons and acquired the new incentives to overwhelm the other antitheses, or have strong thereto such as from linking networks and technological innovations.              

"A completely pacified globe, would be a world without the distinction of friend and enemy and hence a world without politics"(Schmit's The Concept of the Political, page 35).

                     

Scale on the Seamless Globe

Scale and Accumulation 

"Scale is the spatial dimensionality necessary for a particular kind of view, whether up close or from a distance, microscopic or planetary" (Tsing, Chapter II, p.58). 

There have many definitions and attempts to define the 'scale', but it's quite too complex to translate this term in concrete word. Then the interesting point we may focus about is the process of scale-making. Our world we lived has many fragments and frictions in multidimensional visions. The way to accumulate and try to establish the general interpretative understandings will base on the 'generalization' or the process of forming or expressing in general notions gains from the observation or even comparison of individual facts or appearances. In order to reach the universal truths also need the establishing the 'axiom of unity' and convergences among disparate forms for bridging and raising of the collaborative perception on the natural objects.      

For 'sclae-making projects' can be categorized into several layers but the main substances are local, national, regional, and global level. Because scale is not neutral frame drawing the globe, or separable between local and global only via looking the world as homogeneous lens. According to Tsing's The Economic of Appearances described on the financial conjuring in which helps readers to extend their understanding about how the globe comes into being as a culturally specific set of commitments and a set of practices. Further explaining how articulations among globalist, nationalist, and regionalist projects bring each project to life. Our world is existing in the main rhetoric of Capitalist world (in case that we are looking at the context of economic and development perspectives). By the intertwining among three layers of scale in the national (franchise cronyism), regional (frontier culture; Kalimantan frontier in Indonesia, etc.), and the global level for financial capital leads to the accumulation of the complete picture as Tsing called " The Spectacular Accumulation." In this case, Indonesia was picked up as the case study about this accumulation with the role of amazing Bre-X Canadian company echoed widely about the dramatic scene appealing many focuses especially in the investment motivation. Later, the creation of the 'Miracle Nation' forced potential frontier regions into lawless violence and abolished customary tenure, comply with many regulations for mining the gold that obligated in Canada.

This kind of spectacular accumulation reflects conversely with the 'flexible accumulation' on popular Fordism. And the conceptualized globalization by Harvey also suggest the condensation of time and space that space grow smaller and time more instantaneous and effortless. But for the case of the Bre-X and this spectacular accumulation; the space is enlarged and time is quickened in the rush of acceleration, not effortless anymore. The world is kind of complex and scaling becomes a real task to final. However, the hardest task for us may be the establishing of 'Universal Regime.' In which the global Nature cab facilitate the governance regimes, making technical standardization an international imperative, and activate the international negotiation as well. But the failure of International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) with empty concept of sustainable development reflect the confrontations and discomfort on collaborations in which these did not prove a convincing 'axiom of unity'; moreover, the 'universality' increases the harder task for us to see who is considerable imagined insider or outside genre. As in this case of ITTO that the one who knows about the problem of forestry on the ground like local foresters or spokespeople to wildlife has been excluded, left to the inquiry about what is global Nature can reach us to, facilitates or obscures worldwide collaborations in another way round.    

"Nature offers various kinds of commitment to a global scale. Global Nature can collate facts from around the world... Global Nature made the knowledge of varied localities compatible" (Tsing, Chapter III, p.111).                                 

The ' Flat or Round' Amorphism

What is the shape of the world? 

The old believes about the 'flat' world had been recapped with the new innovative explanation by the scientific progression especially for the technology on travelling and exploring the world. The concept of round or spherical Earth emerged confronting with the old concept of traditional believes especially for the Thai society during the early nineteen century. King Mongkut (or Rama IV) spent his life to establish new ways of reliable knowledge on the geography and astronomy including the prediction of astrology. He wanted to set up the pattern of education in order to induce more accuracy and correction mostly on the tangible thoughtful process rather than the old fable. One of his dominant attempt as the big experiment in this region is the 1868 Wako observation in which the British and France also joined that chance. Along with later new curriculum  during 1890s offered the guideline of geography learning for the new Siamese generations, as from the Phumisat Sayam (Geography of Siam) of W.G. Johnson, or Van Dyke's Phumanithet. Anyhow, Thai society did not accept totally believes from Western dominance especially in the religious perspective, we tried to inspire the new Buddhist sect and find the own standpoint, even though the Traiphum cosmology would be dismissed later on.