“She’s Mlungu but she looks like me!”: disrupting insider/outsider dichotomies in ethnographic fieldwork

What happens when the biologically and socially visible (and invisible) boundaries used to maintain differences between the researcher (outsider) and the researched (insiders) are broken down or denied acknowledgment? This article explores one challenge of conducting ethnographic fieldwork in regards to race and the unintentional blurring of the insider–outsider dichotomies within the field. As an English-speaking African American attempting to penetrate Langa, a black South African, predominantly isiXhosa-speaking township, it became apparent that my physical appearance automatically relegated me to an ‘insider,’ awarding me a certain and perhaps undeserved membership in the field. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork from 2011 to 2012, this article is a reflection of my experience of balancing my role as a black-American researcher – and by default an outsider – in an environment where my “outsider-ness” was visibly non-existent. This both mitigated an exacerbated my ethnographic data collection.     

Squaring the speed of light? Regulating market access in algorithmic finance

Abstract

We examine the sociomaterial regulation of algorithmic trading against the background of the European Union’s directives on Markets in Financial Instruments (MiFID/MiFIR). Tracing the purification and translation of regulatory practices within a French brokerage firm, we examine the impact of electronic trading on the nature of market access. Central to our analysis is the ‘Blackbox’, a tool designed to manage market access efficiently by collating trade flows and automatically pairing them with trading algorithms. Our findings show that, through a process of ‘abstracting’, purification and translation are kept strictly separate, allowing the broker to meet the regulatory requirements de jure whilst retaining de facto the unregulated advantages of high-speed materiality. We discuss the implications for both the policy and practice of high-speed financial trading.     

排污权交易的公示制度研究——兼谈物权公示制度

排污权交易制度的实质是具有排放资格的单位之间就排放容量进行自由交易的制度。基于排污权交易的特殊性。则需借鉴物权理论的公示制度,构建由“公法主导”转向“公私监管”的公示制度。物权的公信力来源于公示方式的科学性和合理性。现今因为环境污染的日益严重性。排污权交易制度也需被赋予公信力。物权变动的公示和公信力涉及物权的多样性和交易的安全性。即使排污权交易不存在上述问题,但就其交易对象的数量限定性和第三人的环境利益相关性．引入物权公示制度的同时也需要增强公信力。因此本文认为,应将政府采取的“批准”方式与公示生效主义相结合来构建新型的排污权交易公示制度。这一制度的建立,既能增加交易的自由度,也能增加这一方式的公信力．     

浅析多重语境下的习惯法概念界定——以民法中“交易习惯”的性质认定为例

习惯法概念的界定历来存在争议,正确界定习惯法的概念及认识习惯法与习惯之间的意义对于我们认识现存法律中的关于习惯入法及习惯在司法中的适用提供重要的意义和理论基础。本文以为习惯法应该是独立于国家强制力之外的一种法律,即区别于制定法。是一定社会中,人们在长期的生产生活和社会实践中所惯性的为一定的群体人们在心理上所接受的,能够像发一样规制人们行为的,不违背公序良俗的习惯。而我国民法中的交易习惯也应当是习惯法。至于交易习惯的适用,应当由司法机关汇编适用。     

中国碳交易市场的核心问题与解决思路

中国碳交易市场已初步形成,但存在的核心问题也比较明显,主要集中在碳交易市场机制不完善、法规法律不健全、政府主管部门监管不足、缺乏碳交易的定价权与碳金融发展滞后等方面,该文围绕上述核心问题分别提出了应对思路。