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"Wise, Amanda"
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Pyramid subcontracting and moral detachment: Down-sourcing risk and responsibility in the management of transnational labour in Asia
Major transformations in the organisation of labour are having a profound effect on the moral character of the labour-capital contract. Using two small case studies undertaken in Singapore as a starting point, this article reflects on the moral economies of supply chain capitalism. Detailing examples of the human impacts of down-sourcing risk through 'flexible' modes of transnational employment, it analyses the strategies whereby firms and governments distance themselves from these consequences. Precarious forms of employment based on pyramid subcontracting arrangements allow a disruption of the moral relation (however tenuous) that is present in traditional face-to-face employment arrangements. The article explores four strategies of moral detachment on the part of the employers, contractors and brokers in the supply chain.
Journal Article
Exile and Return Among the East Timorese
East Timor, the world's newest nation, finally gained its independence in 2002, following half a millennium of Portuguese rule and 24 years of Indonesian occupation. That occupation produced a refugee diaspora spread between Portugal and Australia that has been integral in advancing East Timor's cause abroad. Because East Timorese in the diaspora identified strongly as exiles and invested so much in pursuing East Timor's independence, the homeland's liberation has complicated the very basis on which many have \"imagined\" themselves since fleeing to Australia.Wise interrogates the space after exile for members of the East Timorese diaspora in Australia, in dialogue with key debates on diasporic identities within cultural studies, contemporary anthropology, and cultural geography. Drawing on innovative ethnographic research, explores questions of shifting identity and home, trauma and embodiment, belonging and return among the East Timorese abroad at this critical juncture in their lives. The book asks what forms of cultural identity emerge among politically active refugee diasporas, what happens to such groups when the dream of homeland is fulfilled, and how they renegotiate a sense of home after exile.The lived experience of Timorese in Australia and former refugees who have returned to East Timor is brought to life through their eloquent and often moving firsthand narratives, which the author has used liberally throughout the book, vividly presenting them alongside images and analysis of their role in the political struggle.Providing unique insights into cultural identities in the transition from exile to diaspora in a post-refugee group, is essential reading for anyone interested in questions of home and identity among diasporic, transnational, and refugee communities.
eBook
RalA signaling pathway as a therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
Ral (Ras like) leads an important proto-oncogenic signaling pathway down-stream of Ras. In this work, RalA was found to be significantly overactivated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and tissues as compared to non-malignant samples. Other elements of RalA pathway such as RalBP1 and RalGDS were also expressed at higher levels in malignant samples. Inhibition of RalA by gene-specific silencing caused a robust decrease in the viability and invasiveness of HCC cells. Additionally, the use of geranyl–geranyl transferase inhibitor (GGTI, an inhibitor of Ral activation) and Aurora kinase inhibitor II resulted in a significant decrease in the proliferation of HCC cells. Furthermore, RalA activation was found to be at a higher level of activation in HCC stem cells that express CD133. Transgenic mouse model for HCC (FXR-Knockout) also revealed an elevated level of RalA-GTP in the liver tumors as compared to background animals. Finally, subcutaneous mouse model for HCC confirmed effectiveness of inhibition of aurora kinase/RalA pathway in reducing the tumorigenesis of HCC cells in vivo. In conclusion, RalA overactivation is an important determinant of malignant phenotype in differentiated and stem cells of HCC and can be considered as a target for therapeutic intervention.
•RalA leads an important proto-oncogenic signaling pathway down-stream of Ras.•RalA is significantly overactivated in HCC cells and tissue samples.•Silencing RalA decreases the viability and invasiveness of HCC cells.•RalA activation was found to be higher in CD133 + enriched HCC cells.•Inhibition of aurora kinase/RalA prevents growth of HCC human cells in nude mice.
Journal Article
Moving Food: Gustatory Commensality And Disjuncture In Everyday Multiculturalism
This essay draws on the fieldwork from three research projects undertaken in Australia between 2002 and 2007. The general research was concerned with investigating the phenomenology of everyday diversity as it was experienced in a number of spatial contexts (suburban, urban, regional,
shopping mall, church and so on). Material interactions with food were found to be a privileged arena for experiences of living within a multi culture, and food consumption constituted a site for experiences of cultural anxiety and disjuncture as well as for prosaic forms of low-level cosmopolitanism.
Living in common means living with common resources. Commensality - in its etymology - names the practice of eating at the same table; in its more general meaning it describes the practice of living together with others. This paper explores commensal practices that encourage convivial experiences
of multiculturalism while also investigating how the experience of sitting down with others can exacerbate cultural differences.
Journal Article
Overactivation of Ras signaling pathway in CD133+ MPNST cells
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are believed to be the regenerative pool of cells responsible for repopulating tumors. Gaining knowledge about the signaling characteristics of CSCs is important for understanding the biology of tumors and developing novel anti-cancer therapies. We have identified a subpopulation of cells positive for CD133 (a CSC marker) from human primary malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) cells which were absent in non-malignant Schwann cells. CD133 was also found to be expressed in human tissue samples and mouse MPNST cells. CD133+ cells were capable of forming spheres in non-adherent/serum-free conditions. The activation levels of Ras and its downstream effectors such as ERK, JNK, PI3K, p38K, and RalA were significantly increased in this population. Moreover, the CD133+ cells showed enhanced invasiveness which was linked to the increased expression of β-Catenin and Snail, two important proteins involved in the epithelial to mesenchymal transition, and Paxilin, a focal adhesion protein. Among other important characteristics of the CD133+ population, endoplasmic reticulum stress marker IRE1α was decreased, implying the potential sensitivity of CD133+ to the accumulation of unfolded proteins. Apoptotic indicators seemed to be unchanged in CD133+ cells when compared to the wild (unsorted) cells. Finally, in order to test the possibility of targeting CD133+ MPNST cells with Ras pathway pharmacological inhibitors, we exposed these cells to an ERK inhibitor. The wild population was more sensitive to inhibition of proliferation by this inhibitor as compared with the CD133+ cells supporting previous studies observing enhanced chemoresistance of these cells.
Journal Article
Transnational Affect and Emotion in Migration Research
Transnational migrants characteristically participate in an array of activities-mediated by flows of material objects and symbolic ties-to reproduce their transnational social fields. Scholars of transnationalism have generally understood it to be motivated by questions of identity, belonging, social memory, and sociality. However, in our own research, we have found the affective and emotional dimensions of transnational practice and believe that this represents a productive new theoretical and methodological approach that can advance our collective understanding of what motivates, compels, and structures transnational actors' participation in transnational social fields, and reproduce emotional communities across borders and more broadly in the area of migration research. In this paper, we develop the notion of transnational affect and emotion to describe this emergent field of research. We argue that an array of affects such as shame, honour, pride, guilt, and obligation structure inter-subjective relationships and modes of reciprocity within transnational social fields.
Journal Article
Pyramid subcontracting and moral detachment: Down-sourcing risk and responsibility in the management of transnational labour in Asia
Major transformations in the organisation of labour are having a profound effect on the moral character of the labour-capital contract. Using two small case studies undertaken in Singapore as a starting point, this article reflects on the moral economies of supply chain capitalism. Detailing examples of the human impacts of down-sourcing risk through 'flexible' modes of transnational employment, it analyses the strategies whereby firms and governments distance themselves from these consequences. Precarious forms of employment based on pyramid subcontracting arrangements allow a disruption of the moral relation (however tenuous) that is present in traditional face-to-face employment arrangements. The article explores four strategies of moral detachment on the part of the employers, contractors and brokers in the supply chain.
Journal Article
'Foreign' Signs and Multicultural Belongings on a Diverse Shopping Street
This article is based on an ethnographic study of white working-class senior citizens and elderly post-war long-term migrants living in a multicultural neighbourhood in Sydney. Ashfield is a suburb which has seen a rapid influx of mainland Chinese immigrants in the last 15 years. The
study focused on quotidian experiences of diversity and place change, looking in particular at everyday moments of intercultural contact and negotiation in the main shopping high street. This article reflects on the question of inhabiting multiculturalism and urban place sharing in the main
shopping street and focuses primarily on the transformation of place brought about by Chinese language shop signage. Many of the long-term residents (white and 'long-time' Australians - post-war immigrants from India, Greece and Italy) expressed a sense of dislocation as the shopping
street transformed into what is now known as Sydney's 'Little Shanghai'. Much of their anxiety centred on the proliferation of Chinese language shop signage. They spoke of not knowing what the new shops were or 'what's in there', which in turn had an effect on their patterns of usage, connection
to, and sense of place and belonging. The abundance of Chinese language signage functioned not only as information, but contributed in important ways to a general landscape of belonging, in aesthetic and sensory terms, for the Chinese residents. For them, Chinese language signage produced
a sense of familiarity and ease of navigation, and connection to China not only through the goods sold, but through sense-images evoked through Chinese script signs featuring shop names referencing localities from 'home'. I explore how the material, sensory and aesthetic qualities of Chinese
language signage differently constitutes world and locality for the various inhabitants who confront it, producing in turn differential forms of belonging and localized displacement.
Journal Article