Are there customary rights to plants?: an inquiry among the Baganda (Uganda), with special attention to gender

"Debates around Common Property Resources and Intellectual Property Rights fail to consider traditional and indigenous rights regimes that regulate plant resource exploitation, establish bundles of powers and obligations for heterogeneous groups of users, and create differential entitlements to benefits that are related to social structures. Such rights regimes are important to maintaining biodiversity and to human welfare; failing to recognize them presents dangers. The case study investigates the gendered nature of informal rights to selected tree and plant species that are distinct from, but related to, customary rights to land and trees, and are embedded in cosmology and social norms. from Author's AbstractIntellectual property rights, Gender, Plant resources, Common property resources, Biodiversity, Land rights, Trees,

Furniture and the Atlantic Canada Condition

This paper looks at the place of furniture (as well as its indigenous fabrication) in the domestic environment, culture, and economy of eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century Atlantic Canada. Looking at the particular restrictions economy and climate set on producer and user alike, the paper examines the effect of these factors on the region's furniture. Résumé Cette communication étudie le rôle du mobilier, ainsi que les conditions de fabrication, dans la vie domestique, la culture et l'économie du XVIIIe siècle et du début du XlXe, dans la région de l'Atlantique. L'auteur étudie les restrictions particulières que l'économie et le climat imposaient au fabricant comme à l'usager, et examine l'effet de ces facteurs sur le mobilier de la région

University for the Creative Arts staff research 2011

This publication brings together a selection of the University’s current research. The contributions foreground areas of research strength including still and moving image research, applied arts and crafts, as well as emerging fields of investigations such as design and architecture. It also maps thematic concerns across disciplinary areas that focus on models and processes of creative practice, value formations and processes of identification through art and artefacts as well as cross-cultural connectivity. Dr. Seymour Roworth-Stoke

Visual Literacy and New Technologies

This body of research addresses the connection between arts, identity and new technology, and investigates the impact of images on adolescent identities, the relationship between online modes of communication and cyber-bullying, the increasing visualization of information and explores the way drawing and critical analysis of imagery develops visual literacy. Commissioned by Adobe Systems Pty Ltd, Australia (2003) to compile the Visual Literacy White Paper, Bamford’s report defines visual literacy and highlights its importance in the learning of such skill as problem solving and critical thinking. Providing strategies to promote visual literacy and emphasizing the role of technology in visual communication, this report has become a major reference for policy on visual literacy and cyber-bullying in the UK, USA and Asia

Patents and Industrialization: An Historical Overview of the British Case, 1624-1907 w

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the research on the role played by patent systems in the industrialization process (with a special focus on the British case). Perhaps surprisingly, no consensus has been reached yet as to whether the emergence of modern patent systems exerted a favourable impact on inventive activities. However, the recent literature has shed light on a number of fundamental factors which affect the links between inventive activities and the patent system. The concluding section of the paper outlines some "history lessons" for the current debate on the role of patent in economic development.patents, innovation, Industrial Revolution, economic growth

Crafting futures: Scoping visit reports and proposals for pilot projects in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

'Crafting Futures creates new networks and opportunities for shared learning between the UK and other countries around the globe. The programme supports research and education in craft, ensuring projects are relevant and the quality of creative practice is preserved and continues to develop. Crafting Futures offers designers and artisans access to knowledge and expertise, new markets and new audiences, ensuring the value of craft is appreciated more broadly and knowledge can continue to be shared within the sector.’ (design.britishcouncil.org). RCA researchers Tom Simmons and Eleanor Dare visited Kyrgyzstan in November 2019; Peter Oakley visited Kazakhstan with Martin Quinn (University of Leicester) in October 2019; and Marta Gasparin and Steve Conway (University of Leicester) visited Uzbekistan in November 2019. This report summarises the visits and includes an analysis of opportunities for future collaborations

Urban heritage conservation and rapid urbanization : insights from Surat, India

Currently, heritage is challenged in the Indian city of Surat due to diverse pressures,  including rapid urbanization, increasing housing demand, and socio‐cultural and climate changes.  Where rapid demographic growth of urban areas is happening, heritage is disappearing at an  alarming rate. Despite some efforts from the local government, urban cultural heritage is being  neglected and historic buildings keep being replaced by ordinary concrete buildings at a worryingly  rapid pace. Discussions of challenges and issues of Surat’s urban area is supported by a qualitative  dataset, including in‐depth semi‐structured interviews and focus groups with local policy makers,  planners, and heritage experts, triangulated by observation and a photo‐survey of two historic  areas. Findings from this study reveal a myriad of challenges such as: inadequacy of urban  conservation management policies and processes focused on heritage, absence of skills, training,  and resources amongst decision makers and persistent conflict and competition between heritage  conservation needs and developers’ interests. Furthermore, the values and significance of Surat’s  tangible and intangible heritage is not fully recognized by its citizens and heritage stakeholders. A  crucial opportunity exists for Surat to maximize the potential of heritage and reinforce urban  identity for its present and future generations. Surat’s context is representative of general trends  and conservation challenges and therefore recommendations developed in this study hold the  potential to offer interesting insights to the wider planners and conservationists’ international  community.  This  paper  recommends  thoughtful  integration  of  sustainable  heritage  urban  conservation into local urban development frameworks and the establishment of approaches that  recognize the plurality of heritage values