Focused Discussions (Asynchronous Session)
Primitive Accumulation and Multinational Corporations: The Evolution of Dispossession and Exploitation in the Rubber Industry
Focused Discussion Matthew Rochat
In this paper I examine how the process of primitive accumulation has led to evolving forms of dispossession and exploitation, facilitated by multinational corporations (MNCs) in the rubber industry. I begin with an examination of rubber extraction in the Congo under King Leopold II at the turn of the 20th century. This section highlights particularly brutal, violent forms of dispossession and exploitation that took place under the auspices of the Belgian Crown and several concessionary multinationals. Leopold II’s Congo showcases the barbaric underpinnings of primitive accumulation in the rubber industry in its crudest form. The subsequent section shifts to the interwar period with Fordlândia in the Brazilian Amazon. Though less overtly violent, I analyze the increasingly imperceptible mechanisms of dispossession and exploitation employed by the Ford Motor Company. The final case is an investigation of Firestone in Liberia, also taking place during the interwar period. In fact, the case of Firestone in Liberia bears a striking resemblance to the case of Fordlândia in many ways. Despite an abundance of similarities, the fate of the two MNCs diverged significantly. While the Fordlândia plantation closed in 1945 as an economic failure, the Firestone plantation survived and remains open to this day as the world’s largest contiguous rubber plantation. I compare the two cases using a Most Similar Systems Design, and provide an explanation for the divergence between the two outcomes.
Natural and Experiential Systemic Therapy: A Transcultural Approach to Family Therapy View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Bill Forisha, Ph.D., LP, LMFT, Ann Thiel
The observable aim of Natural and Experiential Systemic Therapy (NEST) is to help family members get more of what each wants in their relationships with the others and less of what each doesn’t want. However, since familial relationships are embedded in both multigenerational and multilayered cultural contexts, the less visible aim is to help each member get more of what each “really really” wants as they navigate through their differences to discover their similarities. The theory and practice of NEST is based on the integration of two profoundly disparate approaches to systemic therapy. Bowenian Family Therapy and Relational Gestalt Therapy promote the conscious differentiation of a self within the context of multisystemic levels of interaction. The former advocates for doing so with as little emotional reactivity as possible—so that members may listen more thoughtfully to one another and problem solve in a rational yet empathic manner. In contrast, the latter seeks to intentionally elicit emotional reactivity so that seminal developmental events in the lives of each member, the origin of which often pre-dates the current relationship(s), becomes accessible to co-reflection and the co-generation of new meanings. These disparate approaches to similar ends appear to find common ground within Terror Management Theory. TMT supports experientially drawing the family members’ attention away from the idiosyncratic aspects of their disagreements and towards their transcultural longings for experiencing a balance between individual creativity and emotional security. Case examples are provided to illustrate the value of transculturalism for managing anxiety and restoring family harmony.
