Hasta La Gadget!

Nina Sylvanus, Northeastern University

Since the early 20th century, Vlisco has produced African print cloth – otherwise known as Dutch wax prints. This vibrantly coloured and intricately patterned fabric dominates West African markets and is globally recognised as quintessentially “African”.

Ironically, this iconic bold cloth was originally forged by Dutch colonial companies attempting to mechanically reproduce handmade Javanese batik cloth. When this failed to take off in Southeast Asia, Dutch traders began to sell the cloth in West African markets. The patterns were modified to fit local tastes and quickly became popular.

The rise of mass-produced, Dutch wax prints partially displaced domestic textiles, which lacked the colourfastness and material lightness that ultimately made wax prints an essential everyday consumer good.

But this is not where the story ends. Today, the majority of Dutch designs available on African markets are low-cost reproductions made in China. The entry of these Chinese textiles has upset Dutch and local producers of “authentic” wax prints.

These producers are trying to protect their hold on the market by appealing to ideas of “originality” and legal notions of “authenticity”. But consumers are more interested in the quality and look of the cloth, and the way it reflects the wearer’s taste and status.

New market players undercut originals

Hitarget is the market leader among Chinese upstart brands. It is a thorn in the side of a number of competitors. These include the Dutch company Vlisco as well as the Nigeria and Ghana-based manufacturers of popular African print brands like GTP, ATL, ABC, Nichemtex or Uniwax. The majority of Hitarget patterns are “original” Dutch designs to which Vlisco claims legal and technical rights.

Over the past decade, Vlisco has repeatedly taken legal action by seizing counterfeit cloth. This strategy has had limited results.

More recently, the company has adopted an alternative, equally ineffective, response to the issue. In September 2014, Vlisco launched a major brand protection campaign in its African fashion markets, entitled Connoisseurs of Style.

The Vlisco Connoisseurs of Style web guide is designed to help female consumers identify the brand’s markers of authenticity. These include a trademarked monogram, an encrypted bar code, a label, a design number, and the word marks “Guaranteed Dutch Wax Vlisco/Véritable Wax Hollandais Vlisco” printed on the cloth’s selvedge.

These signs mark the fabric as authentic according to the legal regimes that underpin the ideas of originality and brand ownership. But on the ground, attitudes towards authenticity are quite different.

Consumer standards and attitudes

In my research in Lomé (Togo), once the largest textile market for Dutch wax prints in West Africa, I found that consumer evaluations of copies rarely match legal evaluations. Copies are technically pirates according to International Property law. But to buyers they can be both authentic and inauthentic, real and fake.

As anthropologist Elizabeth Vann notes in her work on Vietnamese real-fake goods, the categories of brand ownership and the intellectual property rules that uphold them cannot be taken for granted everywhere.

Just like consumers of the global North, Togolese desire affordable goods and willingly buy copies and counterfeits. Some copies have become investment pieces that generate sensations of desire and pride and necessitate cultural expertise to successfully choose and purchase.

Others, however, are considered faux or bad and are not valued as highly. Good copies do not betray consumers, whereas bad or fake copies have the power to expose the unsavvy.

Instead of relying on labels and techno-signs of authenticity as per the Vlisco style guide, Togolese turn to the cloth’s material properties to establish its worth. Value is ascribed through the senses, by touching, smelling or even tasting the cloth.

Hitarget has become especially popular among younger consumers due to its affordability and high-quality thread count, colour palette, and design precision. Expert fashionistas can distinguish Hitarget from Vlisco by mere sight. Some even consider Hitarget to be “better” than the “authentic” print.

Even more amazing is the fact that Hitarget has recently also fallen victim to counterfeiting, making the distinction between real copies and real-fake even more challenging.

In Togo, societal norms of ascribing value to fakes and copies are at odds with global regulatory regimes that are based on a specific proprietary relationship between authorship and ownership.

Roots of intellectual property

In a world where most things are produced with some level of human collaboration, intellectual property law inevitably raises complex questions about what constitutes “authorship” and “invention”.

Intellectual property law essentially manages the slippery tension between private ownership and the public domain – the “commons”. It does this by granting temporary private ownership rights for a fixed term, after which the rights fall back into the public domain.

Copyrights, patents and trademarks – the basic tools of intellectual property law – are firmly rooted in 18th-century liberal thought. Rights were created to manage the conversion of ideas into property – with accompanying rights that could be protected, licensed, and ultimately turned into money.

Not surprisingly, to secure financial returns corporations push for extended rights of intellectual property so that their inventions, words and trademarks can be asserted and licensed as legal rights. It is in this way that they are converted into profits in competitive global markets.

They may also, as Vlisco did, create new markers of authenticity so that their intellectual property claims are recognised by consumers.

The historical twists and turns in the European and Chinese reproduction of African print cloth challenges the very idea and practice of intellectual property rights. After all, who legitimately creates and who illegitimately appropriates?

Nina Sylvanus, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Northeastern University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Tasmanian devils have proven themselves to be survivors.

An “evolutionary relic,” researchers have found evidence of devil life dating back 100,000 years; its ancestors have been around for millions. It’s the largest carnivorous marsupial left on the planet, having outlived others like the Tasmanian wolf and marsupial lion. And despite being driven to extinction on the mainland of Australia around four centuries ago, the tenacious creature managed to win the battle for its continued existence, successfully carving out a home for itself on the island state of Tasmania.

Then, 20 years ago, a new hazard emerged.

A highly contagious and incurable form of cancer called Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) began wiping out devil populations. Characterized by gruesome lesions and lumps that manifest on the marsupials’ faces, the condition killed nearly 100 percent of devils that contracted it.

In the years since, DFTD has infected almost all devil populations in the wild, prompting an overall population decline of over 80 percent.

“The Tasmanian devil cancer is the only cancer that is threatening an entire species with extinction,” researcher Elizabeth Murchison said in 2012.

Without a cure or other drastic intervention, experts warned that the animals would be wiped off the face of Earth in less than 30 years. 

In typically devilish fashion, the creatures didn’t take this dire prediction lying down. 

According to a study published this week in the journal Nature Communications, the endangered species seems to be rapidly evolving to resist the virulent cancer — and this stab at survival may be enough to keep them alive. 

Researchers said they’d been prompted to embark on the study after realizing that some Tasmanian devils were outliving scientists’ predictions. Epidemiological models had foreseen extinction in some long-diseased local devil populations, but many of them had persisted.

Being extremely social creatures, it wasn’t likely that the devils in these communities had not been exposed to the disease. After all, part of the reason the cancer managed to spread so efficiently was because of the naturally aggressive disposition of the devils, who often bite each other’s faces while mating and fighting.

“As comical as it is, the familiar Looney Tunes portrayal of a Tasmanian devil as a seething, snarling, insatiable lunatic is, at times, not all that far from the truth,” National Geographic reported. “Tasmanian devils have a notoriously cantankerous disposition and will fly into a maniacal rage when threatened by a predator, fighting for a mate or defending a meal.”

Given these factors, researchers figured something else had to be at play, something that was keeping the devils alive.

“At that point, our hypothesis was maybe there was evolution,” Andrew Storfer, evolutionary geneticist at Washington State University and study co-author, told the Washington Post. “The challenge, of course, was finding evidence in the genome.”

Fortunately, Storfer and his team had a lot to work with. DNA samples have been gathered from Tasmanian devil populations for years, stretching back to the 1990s. By comparing the DNA samples of devils before and after the DFTD outbreak, the researchers were able to pinpoint any changes in the devil genome.

What they found greatly heartened them.

As the paper detailed, the researchers discovered changes in two regions of the genome associated with immune function and cancer response. Their findings suggested that devils were “evolving immune-modulated resistance that could aid in species persistence in the face of this devastating disease,” the study said.

More research is needed to figure out exactly how these genome variations are helping devils survive. They may, for instance, not provide complete resistance, but instead allow the devils to survive long enough to reproduce. 

Still, Storfer said he now feels “optimistic” about the animals’ future. 

“This gives us hope for the survival of the Tasmanian devil, which is predicted to be extinct but isn’t,” Storfer said, per the BBC. “We see that the devils apparently are evolving genes that may be associated with resistance to the disease.”

The brisk pace of these adaptations was also cause for excitement, Storfer added.

“We’re talking about roughly six generations in some populations, which is a very short period of evolutionary time,” he said.

Infectious cancers like DFTD are extremely rare in nature. Only two others are currently known: a sexually-transmitted tumor that spreads among dogs and another, discovered in 2015, that affects clams. 

Storfer said further research into DFTD could offer answers to questions about the evolution of cancer transmissibility in general, “and what causes remission and reoccurrence in cancer and other diseases.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

When home is far away, that sense of ease and belonging that so many people feel can transform into painful pangs of longing, commonly known as homesickness.

Contrary to popular belief, this yearning is not just felt by kids at summer camp — anyone of any age can experience it. Homesickness can manifest when you move to a new city, when you start college or even just when you’ve been away for a while.

Though it might be tempting to ignore feelings of homesickness, leaving them unchecked can actually be bad for your health.

Homesickness may take a toll on the emotional, behavioral and physical states of those it affects, according to a review of decades of research on homesickness published in the journal Psychological Medicine.

Along with feelings of insecurity, loss of control and nervousness, physical effects, including sleep issues, fatigue and loss of appetite, have also been reported. We gathered a few psychologist-backed tips to help ease homesickness. Check them out below: 

1. Realize that feeling homesick is 100 percent normal.

Almost everyone experiences homesickness when moving to a new place — some people might just be better at hiding it, according to Mark Leary, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.

“Being homesick is not a sign of personal shortcoming,” Leary told The Huffington Post. “Realizing that homesickness is a normal and evolutionarily healthy reaction won’t make it go away, but it eliminates the self-criticism that people heap on themselves for not being able to handle the separation.” 

2. Make connections with new people in comfortable settings.

While homesickness is a painful experience, you feel it for good reason. The painful longing to be with loved ones is actually a natural, human mechanism.

“Feeling homesick when separated from loved ones motivates people to want to be with those supportive people or else form new supportive relationships,” Leary said.

But keep in mind that everyone is different when it comes to forming those new relationships. Personality types, such as being an extrovert or an introvert, can inform how people bond, Leary said. When making new connections, it’s best to stick to the style that works for you in order to mitigate homesickness. 

Introverts sometimes force themselves to meet new people in an “extroverted way,” such as going out to bars or mixers, Leary noted. Since pressuring yourself to go into uncomfortable situations can exacerbate homesickness, introverts may want to consider meeting people in a more comfortable setting, such as joining a book or outdoors club. 

“Introverts sometimes berate themselves at their difficulty being outgoing, but it’s just an interpersonal style and not a flaw,” Leary said.

3. Practice self-compassion.

This point is crucial and also one of the hardest to accomplish. Self-compassion is defined as “treating oneself with the same kind of caring, concern and kindness that one conveys to loved ones who are facing difficult life situations,” according to a study Leary co-authored with fellow psychologists from Duke.

In other words, self-compassion is loving yourself just as you love the ones you care about. This kind of unadulterated self-love is so important and effective that it’s commonly used as a counseling technique and psychotherapy, Leary explained.

The most important step in practicing self-compassion is substituting negative, critical and, sometimes, automatic thoughts about yourself with thoughts that are more supportive and kind. 

Whenever you catch yourself expressing self-critical thoughts, Leary recommends that you ask yourself: “What would I say to and how would I treat a friend or loved one who was going through this situation?” After you have your answer, try to talk to and treat yourself the same way.

4. Keep tabs on your negativity.

It’s also useful to ask yourself how much of your homesickness is due to an event, such as being separated from loved ones, and how much is from how you’re perceiving a situation.

For example, people often blame themselves for their perceived inability to cope with a new environment or meet new people, Leary explained. In reality, blaming oneself can only exacerbate the “natural distress” that comes with transitioning to a new environment. 

Leary recommends taking a step back, instead of falling into the trap of a negative outlook, by consistently assessing your thoughts and emotions.

“The biggest challenge is to reduce the automatic, negative, catastrophizing and critical self-thoughts that generate negative emotions and to substitute kinder, more supportive thoughts,” Leary said.

A positive outlook on a situation can do wonders for your mood, but it often can be hard to practice. You can silence negative thoughts in many ways, including reciting positive mantras, keeping a journal or even taking a walk in a park.

If you’re dealing with feelings of homesickness, remember you’re not alone. even though there’s no place like home, give yourself some time and care. You might find yourself falling in love with a new place.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

One of the biggest political and social issues of our time is refugees and the situation only becomes more critical numbers of refugees increase day to day. Meet Vietnamese-American artist Tiffany Chung who uses questions of migration, conflict and cultural memory as the raw material for her art.

Chung’s work often takes the form of participatory workshops in which the artist uses maps and cartography as a medium for young refugees to think about their experiences. “As refugees, some of them might have gone through horrific journeys … To be able to be reflective and put their minds together is not an easy task. Especially if you are in a situation where you are uncertain about tomorrow, about what the future holds for you.”

Herself a refugee from the Vietnam War, Chung has worked extensively with the conflict that affected her family and people. And while there are plenty of versions of this conflict being told – the American, the South Vietnamese and the North Vietnamese version – Chung points out that the war stories are rarely those of the people actually affected by the conflict: “The people who are affected by it, the casualties of the war, what is their version? In a lot of Hollywood movies you mostly hear the American voices, you hardly hear the Vietnamese voices. We were the extras, we were the people running around in the background, the Americans were the heroes.” Chung’s art is a way to questions these dominant narratives, she explains: “I don’t give answers in my work. But I would challenge the viewer in terms of questioning what the story really is, whether there is truth to it or if there are other possibilities of what the story could be.”

Tiffany Chung (b. 1969) is a Vietnamese-American artist based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Her work, which is interdisciplinary and research based, examines conflict, migration, urban progress and transformation in relation to history and cultural memory. Chung has exhibited her work internationally including at the 56th Venice Biennale. Her artwork is held in the collections of the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, the Queensland Art Gallery, Australia, and the SFMOMA, USA.

Tiffany Chung was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in May 2016.

Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard
Edited by: Klaus Elmer
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2016

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Upright vacuums with the dust bin and motor all attached to the handle can be a bit heavy to push around, but canister vacs are notorious for constantly tipping as they roll across your floors. Possibly taking inspiration from those classic Fisher-Price Weebles toys that never fall over, Dyson has created a canister vacuum that can always right itself.

Read more…