Voices

Three Receivers

Armin Medosch — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:56:30 +0200

Postcolonial Media Theory

Armin Medosch — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:56:30 +0200

The Wisdom of the Haitian Peasant: Or Some Haitian Proverbs Considered

Armin Medosch — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:01:55 +0200

Contested Zones: Futurity and Technological Art

Armin Medosch — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:01:55 +0200

Rewriting of History - Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici

Armin Medosch — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:16:25 +0200

Thanks to Doll Yoko for making us aware of Caliban and the Witch - Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici. In Caliban and the Witch, Silvia Federici looks at the transition from feudalism to capitalism from the point of view of 'women, the body and primitive accumulation'. Her key thesis is that the witch hunts of the 16th and 17th century were instrumental to establishing a new capitalist order through 'the development of a 'new sexual division of labour subjugating women's labour and women's reproductive function to the reproduction of the workforce.' Yet by telling the story also from Caliban's point of view, symbol of the 'trans-Atlantic' proleterian, Federici achieves what she claims: to transcend the dichotomy between "gender" and "class". This book is also a brilliant description of the process of primitive accumulation, in particular the enclosures of the common land starting at the end of the middle age and the various forms of resistance to that by renegade women and the 'motley crowd' of the working classes.

In Caliban and the witch¹ Federici looks at the 'development of capitalism from a feminist viewpoint while at the same time avoiding the limits of a "women's history" separated from that of the male part of the working class'. (Introduction, p 11) This is reflected in the title "Caliban and the Witch" inspired by the Shakespeare play The Tempest. In Federici's interpretation Caliban is not only the symbol of anti-colonial resistance, but also for the world proletariat and, "more specifically, for the proletarian body as a terrain and instrument of resistance to the logic of capitalism."

Federici puts Sycorax, the mother of Caliban and a powerful 'witch', center stage of the narration. Federici's main thesis is that the witch hunts of the 16th and 17th century were not just some strange and tragic quirk of history during the transition from feudalism to capitalism, but central to the formation of the new capitalist order. The power of women had to be broken in order for capitalism to succeed. Sycorax, the witch, is the "embodiment of a world of female subjects that capitalism had to destroy: the heretic, the healer, the disobedient wife, the woman who dared to live alone, the obeha woman who poisoned the master's food and inspired the slaves to revolt."

Federici rethinks the process of primitive accumulation, which is so central to Marx, as it is 'treated by Marx as a foundational process, revealing the structural conditions for the existence of capitalist society.' (p 12) She states that where she differs from Marx is that while he considers it more or less exclusively from the viewpoint of male waged proletariat, Federici examines it 'from the viewpoint of the changes it introduced in the social position of women and the production of labor power.' (p. 12) In her account she highlights 'the development of a 'new sexual division of labour subjugating women's labour and women's reproductive function to the reproduction of the workforce,' [...] 'the construction of a new patriarchal order based upon the exclusion of women from waged work and their subordination to men' [...] and 'the transformation of the female body into a machine for the production of new workers.'

Federici places the witchhunts of the 16th and 17th century at the center of her analysis of 'primitive accumulation' claiming that 'the persecution of the witches in Europe as in the New World, was as important as colonization and the expropriation of the European peasantry from its land were for the development of capitalism.' ( all quotes p. 12) Federici argues that 'primitive accumulation did not just happen in the past but was an ongoing process with new enclosures of common world on a massive scale and even the reappearance of witch hunts, which was part of the motivation for her to write this book.

Federici connects with traditions of feminist scholars who established a convincing framework regarding an explanation of the witch hunt according to which it served to 'destroy the control that women had exercised over their reproductive function and paved the way for the development of a more reppressive patriarchal regime' (p 14). Federici posits that her work goes beyond this general point -- which has been widely acknowledged -- and investigates the 'specific historical circumstances under which the persecution of the witches was unleashed and the reasons why the rise of capitalism demanded a genocidal attack on women.' (p. 14) Federici claims that her analysis allows to transcend the dichotomoy between 'gender' and 'class'; she argues that gender is not merely a cultural construct, as postmodernists have claimed, since (paraphrasing now) 'in capitalist society "femininity" has been constituted as a work-function, masking the production of the work force under the cover of a biologic destiny. If this is true then "women's" history is "class history" and 'therefore "women" is a legitimate category of analysis and the activities associated with "reproduction" remain a crucial battle ground for women now as they were in the 1970ies.' (page 14) Federici's introduction ends with a convincing critique of Focault's concept of 'bio-power' and the analysis he puts forward in his History of Sexuality (Focault 1978) as "gender-blind" (pages 15 - 16).

Heavy Theory Artillery

So far this is all quite convincing allthough Federici sounds sometimes a bit heavy handed on the theoretic side. When 'the logic of capitalism' in its foundational phase demanded an attack on women on a genocidal scale, which may be true, then still it is necessary to ask who is behind this, who is the historical actor? Are there identifiable people, groups, a class who perpetrated those crimes for specific interests or is there no specific historic actor as such, is it rather just the 'logic of capitalism' which is at work here? This is an important question on the metalevel of any historic explanation. Who are the players here, concrete identifiable people or historic 'forces', 'logics', 'mechanisms', 'demons'??? I am asking a bit heretically here, does the hunt for an explanation of the witch hunt produce another 'demon' in the shape of the logic of capitalism? Or 'primitive accumulation'? I think Federici is well aware of this problem of agency in historic explanation and at crucial moments in her book she admits that her evidence is sometimes 'circumstantial'. She also writes in the Introduction that more research is necessary to clarify the connections that she is making.

But luckily Federici's book is not just a theory book but primarily a history book and as such it is full of well researched facts which can be disputed or disproved or found true, but the main thing, the research is there, on the shelf, to be examined, savoured or, yes, read in one go, as in my case. There are so many interesting points of departure in this book for further research, I can hardly name them all. First of all, besides the main witch hunt thesis, the book contains a wealth of facts about the enclosures of the commons during the phase of primitive accumulation, as a necessary step to what follows.

The first chapter, "All the World Needs a Jolt" talks about Social Movements and Political Crisis in medieval Europe. I was aware of quite a bit of the heresy and more official religious madness going on at that time but not what extent that had had and particularly how this could be re-examined from a viewpoint of class struggle, resistance, uprisals and revolts which runs totally 'contrary to the schoolbook portrait of feudal society as a static world, in which each estate accepted its designated place in the social order.' (page 26) I had also not been aware that women in many areas were more 'liberated' in the middle age, in particular through access to land which allowed them a level of self-subsitency. This connects to more well known things such as that there were types of traditional knowledge about herbs and their properties which were passed on along the female line. I was particularly unaware of the fact that ion the late middle ages as women migrated to the cities they gained access to many jobs that were later considered 'male' such as 'smiths, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, hat-makers, ale-brewers, wool-carders and retailers,' (p 31), that female employment during that era between the 13 hundreds and 15 hundreds was was on a very high level and that in some places, such as for instance Frankfurt women participated in app. 200 occupations and were also members of most of the guilds (paraphrased from page 31).

However, when Federici states that during the era of the witch hunts women generally suffered a worsening of their social positions, she does not imply that during the middle ages it was all a merry may pole dance. The christian church had a long history of trying to control sexual behaviour and reducing the seductive sexual power that women have over men (paraphrased, page 37). Women played in important role in the heretic movements, some of which celebrated "free love" which could at once have been 'a male ploy designed to gain easy access to women's sexual favors' or a result of the demonisation of sexuality by the church so that women joined heretic movements because they would enjoy a better status and more freedom among them (p. 39).

Voices of anti-colonial resistance

It is a particular strength of Federici's analysis that despite the feminist viewpoint she does not separate 'women' issues from 'class' issues and narrates the stories of various forms of resistance and class struggle from a viewpoint that joins those issues together so that it becomes clear that male and femal 'underclasses' were often united in those struggles. In this regard, I am reading Caliban and the Witch together with The Many Headed Hydra: sailors, slaves, commoners, and the hidden history of the revolutionary Atlantic². The two books are referencing each other, so one can assume the authors have been aware of each others work for a bit. In sum, those books impress because of the never ending spirit of resistence that combines classes, genders and ethnicities in the 'anti-globalisation' struggles of a past which continues till today.³

In this regard, I am interested in digging deeper to find more specific voices. The play The Tempest is one good starting point in this regard, while Ben Jonson seems to be the more interesting dramatician, and the ruthlessness of Francis Bacon is another important thread. Federici does also treat the /fn> subject matter of the 'onset' (in my interpretation) of the scientific mindset through Descartes and the formation of the scientific spirit amidst the most deadly century, from about 1580 to 1680, when wars, disease the loss of common land and colonialisation pressure led to the witch hunts. The interest in anatomic theatres and dissections of the body are further ingredients to be considered when reflecting the formation of the new 'modern' subjectivities. This relationship between science, white magic and the burning< What I have read so far only confirms that those alternative histories are not yet fully told. The colonial mindset permeating even the structuring of the sciences themselves long made impossible such a consideration of an account of globalisation from below. This is an area which I will do more follow-up work on, to develop the 'voices' thread of my PhD research. I will investigate anti-colonial struggle in music, from Mento to Choro and Samba, and other 'proto' forms of modern styles such as Ska, Reggae, Funk, etc.

Federici S.
2004. Caliban and the Witch.
:285.
Linebaugh P, Rediker MB.
2000. The many-headed hydra: sailors, slaves, commoners, and the hidden history of the revolutionary Atlantic.
This leads Federici to a particular damning criticism of the bourgeoisie. 'While we are often told that the rise of democracy is due to a heroic struggle of the middle class against feudal aristocracy', Federici shows that 'already in the middle ages the bourgeoisie sacrificed their cherished political autonomy' and collaborated with the aristocracy to hold down the restive proletariat.' (page 50)

Musicology: Early British Bands and Music Hall artists

Armin Medosch — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:41:42 +0100

This is an image of a youthful Billy Reid, well known in the 1930ies as bandleader of Billy Reid and his piano accordion orchestra. Billy started out as a boiler maker apprentice in the Southampton docks.

Anyone who can bung me some tunes from Billy is very welcome.

Arthur Lloyd website
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/index.html

Music Hall performers: this site has also some audio tracks and images.
http://home.clara.net/rfwilmut/musichll/musich.html

A discography but no samples
http://www.214b.com/MHDisco.html

Sir Harry Lauder, He was funny
http://www.sirharrylauder.com

Something I consider buying. Although it must be said the usage of the Real Audio Format should be punished by law.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000000X0R/qid=965242715/sr=1-/10...

Good article about recordings of black music in London pre WWII
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/ubunca.htm

Article about accordion music and the cinema organ
http://www.accordions.com/index/art/bands.shtml

Hidden Histories - Hive Networks about to launch oral history trail in Southampton

Armin Medosch — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:11:56 +0100

Years of research and development will come to a hopefully successfull climax on Friday March 14th with the launch of the Hidden Histories project in Southampton. The project is the result of a collaboration between Armin Medosch and the London based technology development group Hive Networks led by artist-engineer Alexei Blinov. By narrowcasting excerpts from Southampton's Oral History Unit on 10 listening stations in the city centre, we have created a new public interface for negotiating the past (and maybe future) of the city. The article starts with an excerpt from the press release followed by research notes.

Introduction and Overview

The revolutionary concept is tentatively called street radio. The system uses wireless communication technologies such as Wifi and Bluetooth in combination with FM radio to create listening stations where stories from Southampton's Oral History Archive are broadcast through a low range FM radio signal. 10 such listening stations or nodes are currently in the process of being installed in and around the proposed ‘Cultural Quarter’ on Above Bar Street and the Civic Centre complex. The nodes, from where bytesized stories are transmitted, link together to form an oral history trail that transports people through the changing life of the city.

Southampton was and is one of Britain's most important ports, a gateway to the world for goods and people coming in and out. But while the commercial significance of the port is undiminished, containerisation and other technological improvements mean that ever fewer people work in the maritime industries. The vibrancy of the heyday of Southampton as a port city is fading away in the public consciousness. As the city reinvents itself, Hidden Histories brings together latest wireless and open source technology to put cultural heritage back into the heart of the city.

The Oral History Unit is an almost hidden juwel in Southamptons culture and heritage department, highly regarded in the international Oral History expert community. Since more than 20 years the OHU has been recording the life stories told by the people themselves. Through the voices of common people it offers a window back into time: on the "tale end of the Dickensian age" as one interviewee puts it himself, where men had to queue every day for work at a shed at the entrance to the docks, to the hard life on the passenger ships and tug boats, an oral history is told that does not conform to the cliches and stereotypes of the official versions produced by todays media industry. The unsung heroes of historical moments such as the sinking of the Titanic or famous journeys of ships such as the Queen Mary are telling their own stories from the insiders perspective. Lesser known stories such as the secret social life on ships, the achievements of women in the heavy industries during WWII, and the troubles of immigrants from Asia and the Caribbean surface in this archive. While many of these stories tell of hardships, they also shine with humanity and joyful moments. (The Plimsoll archive offers quite a few sound examples)

Street Radio brings the best moments of this archive right into the centre of the city and makes it availble to passers by and flaneurs on its streets and parks around the Civic Centre. Audio exerpt: Node 1 The sinking of the Titanic

The project will be launched on Friday 14th of March.
Meeting point is the Fountain's Cafe at the Gallery 
in the Civic Centre from 11 am onwards. FM radio 
units will be  made available for lending.


Project website: http://www.hiddenhistories.org.uk 
currently pointing to 
http://www.solentcentre.org.uk/participation/hiddenhistories


contact:  The Solent Centre for Architecture and Design, 
Rosie Danby on 023 80283053

Research Notes

Hive networks have been researching ways in which wireless community networking can be enriched by the content layer. Hive founder Alexei Blinov and his team have been involved in wireless networking since the beginning of the 2000s. Discussions involving also other people such as James Stevens, Adam Burns, and the author of this text have frequently been concerened with making wireless community networks more attractive by making them to become more than just network infrastructures. Preliminary research led to a successful arts council application which allowed a big leap of technology development in 2006 and 2007.

The changing conceptions of Hive Networks saw it at some point as a creative firmware replacement for cheap ASUS wireless harddrives. However, the background was always provided by a philosophical framework of seeking to create some sort of cheap and open source DIY kit for wireless and ubiquituous computing (cf. this article which I wrote in 2005 for the Node.L publication http://theoriebild.ung.at/view/Main/HiveNetworks).

After a developmental phase during which Blinov travelled to meet other creative open source practitioners such as C-Base members C-ven, Sven Ola and Elektra, as well as the OpenWRT crew, dyne:bolic in Amsterdam and a few others, for creative brainstorming and exchange of ideas, Hive Networks meanwhile have come up with the goodies. They have produced a number of Hivewares or self-described 'personalities'. Those are easy to install prepackaged firmwares preconfigured to allow to enhance the functionality of cheap consumer networking devices. Some of the 'personalities' deliver specific media capacities such as audio capture and streaming, others are scouting the net for connectivity and other Hive boxes. Personalities such as the RoboHive can be combined with others to create mixed 'characters'. A panel allows the remote monitoring and maintainance of the hive nodes.

For Southampton, an ASUS WL-500G premium, that run's OpenWrt http://openwrt.org/ RC-5 firmware and BlueJack http://hivenetworks.net/tiki-index.php?page_ref_id=69 personality, is utilized. Each node scans the environment for phones which have bluetooth turned on and sends them an initial message that asks for permission to send a larger message. The second message contains the FM frequency and information about the type of content which can be heard on the respective node. That way people are prompted to stop and listen. The audio content is broadcast via a weak usb-fm transmitter. Such very low powered short range transmitters have become legal recently.

In principle Hive Networks technology could do far more and play all bells and whistles. The decision for a non-interactive format of broadcasting on a radio frequency is actually conservative, but this conservativism is motivated by the drive to reach as many people as possible and keep the tech threshold low. Many types of mobile phone actually include the functionality of an FM radio receiver. Thus, people can listen to HiddenHistories either with a conventional radio or a mobile phone with radio capacity.

The project is a core project of my practice based PhD. My own conceptual involvement with Hive Networks goes back many years. Through previous research, while on a residency at Scan http://scansite.org/ports/, I came across the Oral History Unit. My interest regards the possibilities of a public interface linking media and the city.

In 2003 I have written a book in German language about wireless community networks. After that my main focus has shifted from the pragmatic aspects of netculture to more artistic and utopian notions such as those treated in the text Wireless Utopia and others, which also inspired the making of the Waves exhibition in Riga in 2006. Currently, regarding my PhD research, my interest is still with the emancipatory potentialities of participatory platforms and how interesting types of participation can be facilitated. In particular I am researching links between communities and technological development which is grounded in them and fosters their needs. One of the starting points for my thesis development is that technological development should become more socially embedded. Currently we have a class of innovators and a class of consumers. As technology progresses unguided by ethical needs, only directed by the dictate of capital:-) we are making very bad uses of the increased mastery over the forces of nature. Technological development which is separated from the world is creating technologies which in turn increase social fragmentation and separation.

Themes or issues which I am exploring with Hidden Histories are
- the link between location or place and stories, narrations
- level of acceptance of this project which does something that hasn't been done before
- the effects of the insertion of this additional immaterial layer into the fabric of public space; will perceptions of spaces/places change?
- consequences of initial design decisions such as the low level of interactivity (only through bluetooth) and the favouring of FM radio

At the same time I am also interested in the aural quality of the voices and the insights which the OHU gives for socio-historic research. Those are not so much hidden histories rather than an alltogether different view of history which emanates from those voices.

The Hidden Histories image gallery contains all relevant images. There is also a Google Map with all the nodes more or less precisele positioned where they will be.

small-9

admin — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:07:16 +0200

small-8

admin — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:07:14 +0200

small-7

admin — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:07:13 +0200