New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry Volume 7, Number 2, March 2015 ISSN 1715-6718 © New Proposals Editorial Collective Our Mandate This journal represents an attempt to explore issues, ideas, and problems that lie at the intersection between the academic disciplines of social science and the body of thought and political practice that has constituted Marxism over the last 150 years. New Proposals is a journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry that is dedicated to the radical transformation of the contemporary world order. We see our role as providing a platform for research, commentary, and debate of the highest scholarly quality that contributes to the struggle to create a more just and humane world, in which the systematic and continuous exploitation, oppression, and fratricidal struggles that characterize the contemporary sociopolitical order no longer exist. Volume 7:2 Issue Editor Charles R. Menzies Editorial Collective Charles R. Menzies, Sharon R. Roseman, Steve Striffler Design and Layout Kenneth Campbell International Advisory Panel Avram Bornstein, Karen Brodkin, August Carbonella, A. Kim Clark, Kate Crehan, John Gledhill, Linda Green, Sharryn Kasmir, Ann Kingsolver, Richard B. Lee, Winnie Lem, David McNally, Susana Narotzky, Bryan Palmer, Thomas C. Patterson, R. S. Ratner, Gerald M. Sider, Alan Smart, Gavin A. Smith Contact Us New Proposals online at http://www.newproposals.ca New Proposals Blog and Discussion at http://newproposals.blogspot.com Email [email protected] Cover: Wayfinding. NewJournal of Marxism Proposals and Interdisciplinary Inquiry Volume 7, Numbers 2, March 2015. ISSN 1715-6718 Contents Introduction Navigating the Way Toward Social Justice Charles R. Menzies 5 Special Theme Reflections and Comments Scholars and Activism: Can Progressive Scholarship Advance a Left Politics? 7 Steve Striffler Special Theme Articles Neoliberalism, GATS, and Higher Education in India: Moving Away From Its Original Objectives 13 Kanchan Sarker Locked In: Feminist Perspectives on Surviving on Academic Piecework 28 Helen Ramirez, Natalie Coulter Articles Artifacts of Collaboration at the National Museum of the American Indian 37 Jennifer Shannon Piece-Rates as Inherently Exploitative: Adult/Asian Cam Models as Illustrative 56 Paul William Mathews Internet, Capitalism, and Peripheral Development in the Waldviertel 74 Christian Fuchs The Function of Time in Marcuse’s One-Dimensional World, and Its Relevance in the Networked Society 101 Robert Hassan New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry Vol. 7, No. 2 (March 2015) Pp. 5-6 Introduction Charles R. Menzies New Proposals Editorial Collective Navigating the Way Toward Social Justice n the cover of this issue of the journal is a photo remain familiar to us today. Yet we see them slightly taken in the wheelhouse of a coastal British differently and we use them to purposes somewhat OColumbia fishboat. It is dark out, the image is not different than our predecessors did. We remain in sharp focus, the man on the wheel is staring up at intent, however, upon finding our way from one point an electronic map display, and we can’t see forward to another. through the vessel’s windows. For those familiar with Łagyigyet, the old people or ancestors, made navigational electronics you will know that the green their lives in these waters. They struggled to find display is of a GPS (Global Positioning System) a balance between themselves and their human assisted chart plotter. It shows where one is and aids needs and the other social beings that inhabited in finding the way towards one’s destination. On a these waters. While their world was not perfect, vessel of this size we also had a radar that helped it was a world in which a certain sense of social show other vessels moving around us, radios provid- justice pervaded. When the people lost their way ing information on weather conditions, and devices from the path retribution was swift – floods, slides, to tell us how deep the water was underneath the death felled the prideful. Out of each crisis and col- boat’s hull. All of that is meaningless, of course, if lapse the old people rose again and reestablished we didn’t also know how to interpret the informa- themselves. tion. All of that electronic data is then compared with The most recent crisis, one that we have yet to the sounds we hear and what we see when we open a find our way out of, was heralded in by the arrival of wheelhouse window and peer forward into the dark, a new class of navigators: European merchant adven- rainy night. tures. These sail powered ships arrived searching for Early navigators travelling through these same new resources to exploit as part of the capitalist waterways millennia ago did not have our electronic expansion out of Europe then underway. In addi- instruments. They did share a similar understanding tion to being instrumental in expanding capitalist of the physical sense of navigation and observational relations of production, these newcomers brought skills required to move through unfamiliar terrain. devastating disease that led to massive depopulation The old histories of navigating through these waters at genocidal levels. Out of the ensuing melee came include references to landmarks and currents that the imposition of a system of economic and politi- 6 • C. R. MENZIES cal governance that has prioritized greed, individual faith in the possibility. The commentaries and arti- advancement, and dishonesty. cles in the opening section of this issue hold fast to The 20th century was witness to several disastrous the idea that a better world is not only possible but attempts to find an escape from the depredations of also desirable. From scholarly activism to feminist capitalism and capitalists. The revolutionary attempts interventions we have a set of tools and a body of at change fell prey to the poisoned global environ- knowledge that can help as we navigate forward. In ment and crashed in on themselves. In their wake the cracks and fissures of an imperfect capitalism we even worse examples of capitalist libertarianism have can make spaces for collaboration and cooperation, emerged. even in the center of imperialist nations (see Shannon Mistakes can happen. Knowledge, tools, skills this issue on museum collaborations with Indigenous don’t guarantee that our journey is made without curators). difficulty or mishap. I have stood in a wheelhouse The papers in the second section of this issue of a boat when the seas were too rough, the condi- provide additional content and analysis of the world tions too dangerous to go forward. I recall one time that we must now navigate through. Here we see when we were all gathered in the wheelhouse. We the role of information technology in shaping the were heading out across a treacherous open body of early 21st century landscape of capitalism. A lot has water with the waves and wind coming up. A decision changed since the days when a paper newspaper sold needed to be made. Did we keep moving forward, on a street corner could be a revolutionary instrument take the risk of that dangerous crossing? Ultimately of change. Today the internet has superseded that the decision was made to turn back. Yet, even that older technology. Nonetheless the same configuration decision was difficult to execute. To turn the boat at of capitalism remains at the heart of the problem: the wrong moment would capsize her. That I write a patent disregard for human sentiment or dignity. about it nearly 40 years later testifies to the fact we We can offer no certainty about the outcome. We made the turn and brought the boat around. can and will offer examples to follow. Read on and The journey toward a more just society is fraught join the journey toward social justice. with turnarounds, disruptions, and even loss of New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry Vol. 7, No. 2 (March 2015) Pp. 7-12. Special Theme Reflections and Comments Scholars and Activism: Can Progressive Scholarship Advance a Left Politics? Steve Striffler University of New Orleans begin this discussion with a distinction between, been involved in Students Against Sweatshops, on- on the one hand, the relationship between activ- campus labour unions, university governance, and ismI and our role as scholars and, on the other, the a state-wide organization to defend higher educa- relationship between activism and the scholarship tion against budget cuts. We also engage in politics we produce. I have been an activist and a scholar beyond the university. Our role as intellectuals occa- for over two decades, and although I find both roles, sionally allows us to intervene in targeted ways, as and the relationship between them, to be immensely “experts” who can serve as legal witnesses, provide a frustrating (and rewarding) at times, I would not say good sound bite, or pen the odd editorial. Over the being a scholar-activist is inherently problematic. past two decades, I have participated in anti-war and To be sure, it is frustrating to be an activist in a immigrant rights “movements,” founded and helped place and time where there is no effective left. It is run a Workers Center, worked on Latin American also frustrating to be a scholar in the United States, solidarity, and contributed to the labour movement’s a country that generally disdains intellectuals; in a effort to keep a local shipyard open. In all of these public university system that is crumbling around cases, my role as a scholar has contributed to the us; in a society where more and more people find politics I have engaged in as an activist. themselves unable to access higher education; and in The relationship between activism and the a workplace where most of our colleagues are some scholarship we produce, however, is much more combination of apathetic and scared.