Freelance

Contemporary work increasingly presents itself as an immeasurable endeavour. The social and subjective spaces in which it is practiced are no longer easily circumscribed, and the conceptual categories that traditionally described its relationship with value now appear practically unusable. In particular, workers in the ‘creative industries’ are paradigmatic subjects of the ‘work fragmentation’ process of the post-Fordist era. Cutting across divisions between life and work, employment and unemployment, the performing arts are in many ways a laboratory of job flexibility, where innovative contractual arrangements and professional trajectories have been developed.

In this article, we have mapped the multiple forms that work has taken in the last two decades in Italy. The empirical data is derived from a combined method that utilizes both quantitative surveys and in-depth interviews with artists, technicians and organizers working in the fields of theatre, music, dance and video making. A central feature of the new regulative conditions, and therefore the experiences of these professionals, is the new relationship with time and, more specifically, the ‘loss of measurability’ of hired labour. The aim is to provide a multilayered analysis of the interactions between the socio-economic conditions, career pathways and cultural aspects, i.e. the expectations, reputation, self-perception and social recognition of these jobs. Accordingly, these work patterns are studied as self-employment strategies based on the diversification of activities and expertise, and at the same time, attempts to devise new spatial and temporal configurations of labour, epitomized by the hybrid condition of the ‘salaried employer’.

In these cases, precariousness emerges as a generative terrain of ambivalent subjectivities. On the one hand, the workforce is spontaneously mobilized and autonomously organized by the realization of desires, expression and self-fulfilment, beyond mere economic rewards. On the other, the labour itself becomes increasingly intertwined with ones life, as well as becoming immeasurable. Time loses its function as a unit of measure for compensation (i.e. as in work for a flat rate). This situation frequently leads to the spread of labour into other spheres of life and the risk of self-exploitation. To conclude, the new experiences of union organization and social movements, manifesting in the occupations of theatres, are examined as spaces where differing, and even opposing, solidarity and ‘class composition’ practices within the new creative labour(s) are experimented.

El reportero se encuentra en crisis. Como perfil profesional ha sido gradualmente despojado de sus características esenciales hasta quedarse en cueros dentro de la sala de redacción, donde se enfrenta en soledad a la extinción de su arquetipo. La complejidad de este problema se podría resumir en una falta de profesionalismo o en un profesionalismo inconsistente, motivado por una serie de desafíos no resueltos que pretendo detallar en el presente trabajo. Los retos identificados son cuatro. No es que la figura vaya a desaparecer de las redacciones de los medios de comunicación, pero sí puede ser que su principal razón de ser, como primer testigo social de los acontecimientos, se esfume. Desaparecido este cometido, quedarían dos alternativas: darle el tiro de gracia o redefinirlo.

The reason that North Korea exists is that America, the superpower, exists. This was true during the 1950-53 Korean War, and it is true today. After World War II, American ignorance of the Korean peninsular was matched only by its disinterest. In 2013, oddly perhaps, the best friend of the North Korean regime is the American military-industrial complex. They need each other. That part of the American polity which persists in playing the games of empire absolutely craves a North Korean demon. Yet China in 2013 would happily erase North Korea into a dusty footnote, if it were politically possible. Kim Jong-eun and his coterie are not only bad for Chinese business, they are downright embarrassing for Chinese respectability.

How are international relations constructed in an age of media ubiquity and globalization? How to explain the way both official and non-official actors contribute every day to shaping international politics in an increasingly interconnected world? What is the link between, on the one hand, individual and local practice and, on the other hand, the transformation of international affairs? The paper presents the findings of an empirical study that takes up the challenges posed by the ‘practice turn’ in international relations. Based on the case study of the UK and over forty interviews, it focuses on the daily practices of two sets of actors who operate at the interface between the national and the international dimensions and who are in a privileged position to “construct” the UK—its image and discourses—to the eyes of publics abroad: foreign diplomats and foreign correspondents based in London. The findings demonstrate that, within an appropriate ontological framework, the study of micro-practice can successfully account for the way in which individual thinking processes, respective organizational perspectives, and appropriation of emerging communication technologies ultimately translate into change at the macro level of international relations.

Este artigo pretende constituir-se um guia preliminar para eventuais pesquisas que se debrucem sobre o tema, ao oferecer parâmetros de análise, indicar fontes primárias e secundárias, realizar um levantamento bibliográfico preliminar e apresentar uma proposta de periodização histórica para a evolução da Inter brasileira nestes 200 anos. Ao fim, trata-se de fornecer subsídios a demais pesquisadores que se aventurem a reconstituir o percurso traçado pelo Jornalismo Internacional produzido no Brasil e suas especificidades socioeconômicas, tecnológicas, ideológicas, discursivas e pragmáticas.