عنوان

The problem of fluctuation :

شماره

TLets764449

عنوان اصلي

The problem of fluctuation :

نام عام مواد

[Thesis]

نام نخستين پديدآور

Banoub, Daniel

عنوان اصلي به قلم نويسنده ديگر

nature, capital, and measure in Newfoundland's saltfish industry, 1887-1937

نام ساير پديدآوران

Swyngedouw, Erik

نام ناشر، پخش کننده و غيره

University of Manchester

تاریخ نشرو بخش و غیره

2016

جزئيات پايان نامه و نوع درجه آن

Ph.D.

کسي که مدرک را اعطا کرده

University of Manchester

امتياز متن

2016

متن يادداشت

This thesis examines scientific, technological, and organizational innovations in Newfoundland's saltfish industry between 1887 and 1937. Since entering the orbit of European capital in the fifteenth century, Newfoundland's economy and society was organized around the export of saltfish (salted and dried cod) to consuming markets in Southern Europe and Latin America. By the nineteenth century, saltfish production was organized primarily around the small-scale fishing family financed by merchant capital. This mode of production consistently produced a large aggregate amount of saltfish of highly uneven quality. By the late-nineteenth century, however, this production system was placed under pressure as consumers in the key European markets demanded uniformly high quality saltfish, and Newfoundland's competitors began providing it. Using archival and secondary sources, this thesis examines attempts to improve and modernize saltfish production in Newfoundland over a fifty-year period, beginning with the formation of the first Fisheries Commission in 1887.I argue that saltfish producers had to confront and overcome "the problem of fluctuation." This refers to both the biogeophysical processes controlling the quantity of cod extracted (reproduction, predation, ocean dynamics, etc.) and the biogeophysical processes determining the quality of saltfish produced and consumed (decomposition, preservation, socio-biology of consumption). In contrast to many studies of the political economy of fishing, and inspired by agrarian political economy, I develop a theoretical framework called "aquarian political economy" that expands the analytical focus beyond extraction to include the entire circulation of capital. Between 1887 and 1937, I document a number of attempts at reshaping biogeophysical processes to suit the dynamics of capital accumulation in the "upstream" (pre-extraction) and "downstream" (post-extraction) phases of production. These innovations proceeded by way of introducing abstract, scientific forms of measure, which identified and helped render biogeophysical processes as amenable to human control. I define these innovations as moments in an expanded conception of the "real subsumption of nature under capital." Although many of these innovations and interventions were defined by false starts and only partial success, I conclude that this period witnessed a shift in the notion of expertise from practical experience on the ocean to techno-scientific managerial knowledge behind the desk. Through my empirical research and theoretical framework, this thesis makes a contribution to the political economy of fishing, critical resource geography, and the historical political economy of Newfoundland.

موضوع مستند نشده

Fisheries and aquaculture

موضوع مستند نشده

Historical geography

موضوع مستند نشده

Political economy of resource extraction

موضوع مستند نشده

Real subsumption

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

Banoub, Daniel

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

Swyngedouw, Erik

مستند نام تنالگان تاييد نشده

University of Manchester

نام الکترونيکي

فرمت انتشار

p

نوع ماده

[Thesis]

کد کاربرگه

276903

سطح دسترسي

a

تكميل شده

Y