Morris dances in England

Descripción de las danzas Morris de Inglaterra recogidas por primera vez por Cecil Sharp. Se describen diferentes danzas, la ropa utilizada, los pasos y se intenta dar una cronología de las danzas. Muchos consideran que las danzas de espadas de Inglaterra son las más antigua

Crafting with Digital Technologies: issues in practice

The workshop Crafting with digital Technologies took place in September 2013, as part of the Making Futures 3 conference. The following paper reflects on the development of that workshop, and the context it was convened in, in order to discuss why digital crafting is a subject worthy of particular investigation. Through a presentation of the rationale behind the workshop’s scope, this paper presents an outline of what the author sees as the current social trajectory of digitally-aided manufacturing technologies. It will also show how the workshop led to the identification of interesting commonalities which suggest further avenues for research across the range of digital manufacturing technologies

Creating a brighter future? Responses to the commercialisation of a new ceramic print technology

This paper examines the phenomenon of crafting in industry, primarily through some of the findings of the AHRC-funded project: Extending the Potential for the Digitally Printed Ceramic Surface. The paper will present observations from the project, including project participants’ perspectives towards ‘intelligent making’ as it features in their day-to-day work. This material will then be compared with other fieldwork conducted by the author and the work of other researchers, in order to determine where crafting typically fits into manufacturing relating to the creative industries, particularly in the case of the production of luxury and other high-value goods. Having located crafting in industry and identified the unique contribution it makes to a range of manufacturing situations, the author then asks if it is important that such activities are acknowledged in any sense by by practitioners themselves or their employers and managers as a distinctive type of practice. The paper concludes by considering if acknowledgement in itself will be sufficient to support crafting in industry in the 21st century, and if not, what further steps may need to be taken in order to ensure its survival

The value(s) of Thai craft textiles in the 21st century

The cultural distinctiveness of the Kingdom of Thailand has, in part, been built on the manufacture and consumption of specific woven textiles. Today, the craft weaving of silk and cotton fabrics is promoted by the Thai Royal Family through patronage, encouraged by government bodies and charitable foundations. The resulting products are worn by senior government officials and fashion-conscious urban professionals as well as rural villagers. However, despite the apparent current strength of the sector, the craft weaving industry faces a range of problems that threaten to destabilise or corrode its viability and relevance. These include issues around the cultural transmission of weaving skills and what are acceptable avenues for innovation. In some sense, Thai craft weaving is a classic case of the ‘iron cage of creativity’, as practicing weavers appear to be trapped by a limited repertoire of colour schemes and decorative motifs that are increasingly at odds with the expectations of some of their important groups of consumers, but weavers have little opportunity to challenge the status quo. Through a series of case studies, based on fieldwork conducted over the past five years, the authors will explain the nature of these pressures and how they come to influence or define what true craft woven Thai textiles can or should be. The paper will conclude with some suggestions of how Thai craft weavers can move beyond the current impasse whilst retaining their integrity and importance within Thai society and culture

Who are we protecting? Exploring counsellors' understanding and experience of boundaries

The concept of boundary is a term often used within counselling and psychotherapy literature. However, there is a paucity of research exploring how useful and meaningful boundaries are for therapy practice. This study explored how counsellors understand and experience boundaries within their counselling practice. Seven participants, who were all qualified and practising counsellors, were interviewed about their understanding and experience of boundaries. These interviews were transcribed and then analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Analysis identified one significant overarching theme entitled “Protection and Safety” which distinguished between the protection of self and other. This paper focuses solely on the Protection of Self theme because of the theme’s rich and vivid data and the theme’s overarching dominance across the accounts. Two subthemes were identified: Establishing the Self and Defending the Self. Findings indicate that there was a lack of awareness around boundaries, with some participants describing defensive responses to some boundary issues. However, participants also described using boundaries to restrict, limit and defend themselves when working with clients, and they identified this as necessary for their own safety and security. This study recommends that therapists should engage reflexively with boundaries, towards developing a more relational and/or client-focused approach

A Permanent State of Decay: contrived dereliction at heritage Mining Sites

This chapter addresses the issue of site presentation at heritage mining sites. Oakley first discusses the development of a rationale for treating mining sites as heritage during the course of the 20th and 21st centuries. He then utilises case studies of two Alaskan sites: the mining town of Kennecott and the No8 Gold Dredge, to support his argument that a particular visual aesthetic of decay is now being exploited in such heritage locations. The chapter utilises field research conducted by Oakley at preserved mining sites and related heritage destinations in California, Alaska, Sweden and Cornwall between 2008 and 2012. The research methods were primarily participant-observation, interviews and informal discussions with staff on site, augmented by digital and library research. Oakley argues that the appearance of dereliction at such sites relied on extensive and continual interventions on the part of site managers to support underlying site narratives linked to wider cultural constructions. These interventions are tangential or run counter to dominant conservation conventions. They are, however, key to the successful reception of such sites by visitors, who value the experience of encountering apparent abandonment and decay. The introduction of a novel term – ‘contrived dereliction’ – foregrounds the actions entailed by, and rationale behind, this type of presentation. These outputs offer a new perspective on practices currently being frequently employed, yet rarely acknowledged, in heritage mining site management

Material Disciplines in the Shanghai Art World

This report considers the position of material-based disciplines in Shanghai, focusing on ceramics and glass as case studies. It notes the existence of educational programmes for both materials taught in terms of studio practice, but also the absence of an infrastructure in the city that can support early career creative practitioners wanting to focus in these materials. Ceramics practitioners face conceptual barriers with respect to the material as embodying Chinese intangible heritage and financial obstacles in the form of low-margin retailing combined with the extensive production facilities of specialist ceramics production centres. In contrast, due to the lack of historical precedents, glass practitioners do not suffer the same burden and have a potential advocate in the Shanghai Museum of Glass, which presents a range of contemporary glass sculptural works

Making mercury’s histories: Mercury in gold mining’s past and present

This article considers the presence and absence of mercury, and why in different social arenas where gold features, mercury can become either pervasive or elusive. To substantiate this argument, the article offers two contrasting examples: (1) presentation strategies at Pacific Seaboard gold rush heritage sites, and (2) the background to the Minamata Bay tragedy and the Minamata Convention’s subsequent framing of mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Global South. By unpacking these divergent social histories of mercury use and its consequences, the article identifies the current disconnect between different histories of mercury, and the problematic consequences of this disengagement

Is gold jewelry money?

Abstract: This chapter explores the extent to which gold jewelry, an object type conventionally looked on as a means of display, should also be seen as a type of money. Drawing on historical evidence and ethnographic research, the analysis considers the ways in which two examples—the Renaissance money chain and the modern jewelry collection—exhibit characteristics fundamental to money: liquidity, partibility, and recursive divisibility. As a result, this study proposes that gold jewelry can best be described as a type of para-money. The article concludes that due to its ambiguous state, gold jewelry is able to act as a mediator in social situations where exchanges of money proper are considered unacceptable, and that this is an important yet under- acknowledged aspect of its social identity