Making. Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture
Abstract
Making offers a series of profound reflections on what it means to create things, on materials and form, the meaning of design, landscape perception, animate life, personal knowledge and the work of the hand. It draws on examples and experiments ranging from prehistoric stone tool-making to the building of medieval cathedrals, from round mounds to monuments, from flying kites to winding string, from drawing to writing. The book will appeal to students and practitioners alike, with interests in social and cultural anthropology, archaeology, architecture, art and design, visual studies and material culture.
... In Anthropology: Why It Matters (2018c), addressed to a broad readership, Ingold reiterates his 1992 definition of anthropology as 'philosophy with the people in ' (2018a: 4; 1992: 696, original emphasis). It is an 'art of inquiry' (Ingold 2013;, or a 'correspondence' (2013: 7). Elsewhere, Ingold understands anthropology as 'a sustained and disciplinary inquiry into the conditions and potentials of human life' (2011a: 3), which entails 'a generous, comparative but nevertheless critical understanding of human being and knowing in the one world we all inhabit' (2011a: 229). ...
... He has elaborated these ideas in part through the course known as the 4As (Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture), developed from a seminar convened while he was still based at the University of Manchester and taught in Aberdeen from the spring of 2004. As he writes in Making (Ingold 2013), in which he describes the experience of the course and what came out of it, his ideas have been forged in collaboration with the students involved, and in various other workshops, walks, making sessions and collaborations with doctoral students, artists, craftspeople and other skilled practitioners. ...
... However, building on Ingold's critique of hylomorphism, and his work on perception and imagination, she argues that the metamorphosis butoh brings about is more than metaphorical, resulting in actual bodily transformationas she experienced herself. Esposito's chapter shows how 'anthropology with art' (Ingold 2013) can become part of one's life, not only of thinking 'about' life. ...
... Ingold 2022) and intelligence (Savranski 2019) that may be harnessed for self-care. It shows how an 'anthropology with art' (Ingold 2013a) can participate in one's life, not only in thinking 'about' life. ...
... Against this overarching characterisation, one of the most common butoh traits is said to be 'metamorphosis' (Klein 1988: 37-40;Miyabi in Klein 1988: 70;Barber 2005;Fraleigh & Nakamura 2006;Fraleigh 2010) a term which, however, is typically used metaphorically and remains anthropologically under examined (except for Esposito & Dziala 2021). In this chapter, I propose that an appreciation of butoh metamorphosis, which is more than metaphorical in that it entails perceptual transformation, can be achieved by mobilising a somatic (Hanna 1988;Eddy 2017;Nicely 2018) or 'from the body' perspective (Farnell 1999), that is, a perspective 'from the inside' (Ingold 2013a). Through this 'anthropology-with-butoh dance', I aim to show how butoh metamorphosis can be understood as an expression of the lived body's capacity to think and imagine. ...
... Much anthropological literature on skilled practice is grounded -knowingly or unknowingly -in a phenomenological model of perception as an activity which is also a following, or going along with, the movements of the lifeworld (Latour 2004;Grasseni 2010;Ingold 2013a;Marchand 2016;Hsu & Lim 2020). Studies informed by this approach tend to emphasise an exteroceptive orientation to perception, as entailed in actions and micro-actions in the form of education of attention, correspondence, articulation, or sensory attunement while overlooking processes of self-perception as directed towards the perceiver's own body (Harris 2016: 34;47). ...
... The essential idea is that the quality of the result is continually at risk during the process of making; and so I shall call this kind of workmanship "The workmanship of risk. " -David Pye [68] Craft, defined by David Pye as the workmanship of risk, relies on evolving archives of skill and knowledge, continually shaped by material engagement and emerging tools [45]. As contributors to this growing archive, craftspeople experiment with and share their designs, materials, and techniques with others [87]. ...
... Tacit knowledge empowers craftspeople to apply knowledge from past experiences to new contexts, leading to improvisation within their workflows. This makes craft, for Ingold [45], an ongoing dialogue between maker, materials, and environment that is fundamentally provisional and emergent in character: "To practice craft is to work with materials in anticipation of what might emerge, rather than imposing form upon inert matter. " Although craftspeople typically begin with a plan, the workflow quickly transforms into a dynamic interplay between plans, perception, and situated actions [84] where the unpredictable nature of craft requires them to take risks [68] by responding to emerging challenges and opportunities [27]. ...
... This aligns with the concept of a "reflective practitioner" [78] who continuously evaluates their actions in light of emerging challenges and adjusts their approach accordingly. Ingold [45] emphasizes the agency of materials in shaping craft workflows, highlighting the need for craftspeople to respond to the inherent variability and unpredictability of their chosen medium. Therefore, capturing these loops between the craftsperson and material, where perception and action inform each other, is crucial for conveying the dynamic and responsive nature of craft. ...
Craft practices rely on evolving archives of skill and knowledge, developed through generations of craftspeople experimenting with designs, materials, and techniques. Better documentation of these practices enables the sharing of knowledge and expertise between sites and generations. However, most documentation focuses solely on the linear steps leading to final artifacts, neglecting the tacit knowledge necessary to improvise, or adapt workflows to meet the unique demands of each craft project. This omission limits knowledge sharing and reduces craft to a mechanical endeavor, rather than a sophisticated way of seeing, thinking, and doing. Drawing on expert interviews and literature from HCI, CSCW and the social sciences, we develop an elementary grammar to document improvisational actions of real-world craft practices. We demonstrate the utility of this grammar with an interface called CraftLink that can be used to analyze expert videos and semi-automatically generate documentation to convey material and contextual variations of craft practices. Our user study with expert crocheters (N=7) using this interface evaluates our grammar's effectiveness in capturing and sharing expert knowledge with other craftspeople, offering new pathways for computational systems to support collaborative archives of knowledge and practice within communities.
... Such an approach to learning can align with theoretical traditions such as embodied cognition, which would situate learning in a broader distributed arrangement, including objects and places, or with the pragmatist theories of John Dewey, who argues that in learning people make themselves. While these theories are connected to our arguments, in this article we chose specifically to draw from the work of cultural anthropologist Tim Ingold [24]. ...
... Through using touch, movement and hearing for example, students can activate different ways of learning than the current emphasis on sight through reading and writing. Ingold [24] has expanded on these ideas in practical ways through lessons he has developed which involve students making kites and baskets to learn about social theories in anthropology. His work also correlates closely with the study of crafts by sociologists and anthropologists such as Richard Sennett [27] and Trevor Marchand [28], and has also been expanded by Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholar Kat Jungnickel [29]. ...
... Amidst this emphasis on the possibilities of the digital, which has exploded since the pandemic, learning scientists have urged that we must not neglect the importance of embodied learning [42]. Making entails, Ingold reminds us, what the ecological psychologist James Gibson calls an education of attention [24], meaning that the novice must pay attention carefully to what something feels like, looks like, sounds like, and the potential uses and possibilities of the materials. 2. Sustainability: Our models and making involved using low-cost materials we found around the home. ...
In medical education, technological innovation often focuses on the digital and virtual. In the analogue space, physical learning tools seem to come readymade – pre-programmed mannequins, printed textbooks or the ubiquitous articulated plastic skeletons. The market for mass-produced objects in medical education is vast, however we concern ourselves here with important but overlooked learning materials that fall outside this digital-industrial complex: handmade objects, crafted using (often) simple, low-cost, locally sourced materials, also known as DIY objects. Educational materials have long been hand-crafted, yet this topic receives little attention in the healthcare professions education literature. In this Eye Opener article, we aim to bring DIY objects out of the shadows and in doing so, introduce to the healthcare professions community some of the main theories, movements and approaches behind making as a teaching method. To further our understanding of the role of DIY objects in medical teaching we adopted an ethnographic method that involved making the objects ourselves. Our Eye Opener suggests a greater emphasis can be placed on making one’s own teaching materials and on making as a learning activity. We discuss how making facilitates active and multisensory modes of learning including enhancing spatial awareness, helps students to challenge the status quo in medicine and encourages environmental sustainability in the classroom. We propose some applications of making in the classroom, such as exploring more diverse representations of bodies and studying the environmental impact of medical education materials.
... Literatürde "refined intellect", "tacit knowledge" ve "aesthetic judgment" gibi kavramlarla dolaylı biçimde kesişen bu yapı, grafik tasarım alanında sistematik olarak tanımlanmamıştır. Bu bağlamda ince zekâ hem bedenin malzemeyle kurduğu ilişkide hem de kültürel kodların sezgisel biçimde çözümlenmesinde ortaya çıkan; yaratıcı öznenin bilinçli farkındalığı kadar içselleştirilmiş reflekslerine de dayanan bir üretim bilinci olarak tanımlanabilir (Sennett, 2008;Ingold, 2013). Kavram, yapay zekânın yükseldiği tasarım ortamında, insanın yaratıcı rolünü yeniden anlamlandırmak adına kuramsal bir ihtiyaca da yanıt vermektedir. ...
... Modern öncesi yaratım süreçlerine bakıldığında, özellikle el emeğine dayalı üretim paradigmalarında, yaratıcı bilginin doğrudan tanımlanamayacak bir boyutu olduğu fark edilir: bir şeyin ne zaman "yerli yerinde" olduğunu sezme, biçimsel kararların rasyonel hesaplamalardan çok, deneyimle şekillenmiş bir içsel sezgiyle verilmesi, yaratım sürecinin soyut ve sezgisel doğasını ortaya koyar (Sennett, 2008;Polanyi, 1966;Ingold, 2013). Söz konusu olan tür bir bilgi, 20. ...
Görsel Dikkatin ve Tipografik İletişimin Dönüşümü: Ekran Üzerinde Okuma Dilek AYDEMİR Grafik Tasarımda DijitalleşenMarka Kimliği ve Logo Evrimi Figen YAVUZ İlhami DİKSOY Öğretim Materyalleri ve Çoklu Öğrenme Ortamlarında Tipografik Yapı Hakan MAZLUM İnce Zekâdan Yapay Zekâya DoğruGrafik Tasarımda Yaratıcılık Süreci Hülya DEMİR Görsel Tasarım İlkelerine Göre Logoların İncelenmesi Kemal KÖKSAL Görsel İfade Aracı Olarak Kaligrafi: Grafik Tasarımdaki Rolü ve Tekniksel Yaklaşımlar Mehtap UYGUNGÖZ Dijital Çağda Grafik Tasarım Teorisi:Yeni Paradigmalar ve Tartışmalar Nihat DURSUN Grafik Tasarımda Derinlik Algısı: 2B, 2.5B ve 3B Tasarımlarda Farklılıklar Nurettin Selçuk BAĞCI Toplumsal Görsel Bellek Olarak Savaş Afişleri Yaşar USLU
... He argues that this knotting metaphor is in stark contrast to the more commonly used metaphors of building blocks, chains and containers that "lead us to think of a world which is not so much woven from ever-unspooling strands as assembled from pre-cut pieces" (2015, p. 14), and effectively render the world as pre-ordained and lifeless (Ingold, 2013). Furthermore, it "resonates with a powerful impulse in modern thought to equate the march of progress, whether of culture or civilization, with the increasing domination of an unruly-and therefore non-linear-nature" (Ingold, 2007, p. 155). ...
... Holding the teachers' stories in mind as I revisited Ingold's (2007Ingold's ( , 2013Ingold's ( , 2015 concepts of Lines of life, growth and movement, Meshwork, Knotting, Continuity, and Entanglements, I was struck by the way these concepts allowed me to view the entity of Huntingdale Tech in a much less static and linear way. Instead of considering Huntingdale Tech to be a contained 'thing' that happened at a fixed point in time, I could think of all the people, the ideas, the material resources, and the systemic structures that were involved in Huntingdale, as different lines (or tendrils) that came from somewhere else before and continued on to somewhere else afterwards. ...
Huntingdale Technical School was opened in 1972 as an ‘alternative’ school operating within its state government education system in south-eastern Australia. This article is written from the author’s perspective as a former student, and draws on data from Oral History interviews with four of the school’s former teachers to examine how the school can be regarded as an example of radical education. Poetic inquiry is used as both an analytical and representational device to distil the key essence of their stories, and demonstrate how radical practice neither arises in a vacuum, nor is contained within the particular moment in time in which it occurs. Tim Ingold’s theoretical concepts of lines, knotwork, and entanglements, are used to describe the motivations, ramifications and influences of radical practice as long tendrils stretching forwards and backwards through time. This messy, tangly, organic metaphor suggests possibilities for thinking non-linearly about educational practice and may have implications for those who seek to nurture and sustain radical, democratic and creative approaches to education in the future.
... This dialogical, openended process is relational par excellence. Like creation, correspondence, too, demands attention (Ingold 2013;see also Loovers 2015: 113). Now, why have I placed correspondences in brackets and continued to include relations? ...
... Underlying this assumption is the so-called hylomorphic model, inherited from classical times and according to which a design results from the imposition of a mentally preconceived form onto raw matter. Yet, as Tim Ingold (2013) has argued, inspired by the work of philosopher of technology Gilbert Simondon, formation processes are never divorced from the ongoing history of material transformations. Correspondingly, on the other hand, the distinction implies that the scientific study of the past involves the encounter of a ready-made past. ...
... And even if they may exaggerate the impact of Data Mirror, the link they establish between textile crafts and creativity is an important register of meaning and value for them. Also in the academic literature, the close link between textile crafts and creativity is often seen as an important reason for the current revitalisation of craft (Gauntlet and Holroyd, 2014;Ingold, 2013;Tanggaard, 2012). In line with this, Trapholt's craft-based art projects are based on a socio-material understanding of creativity as an everyday phenomenon and a process with close relationships between human beings and material tools, and between continuity and renewal (Tanggaard, 2012, p. 29). ...
The article investigates how Data Mirror, a large-scale participatory art project at Trapholt Museum brings the cultural ambiguities of textile crafts into play. Exploring the ambiguities of embroidery, the museum, the artist and 623 citizens unsettle dichotomies between tradition/renewal and individuality/collectivity, thereby uncovering textile crafts' potential for (re) connecting with the world. 1
... Når vi i artikkelen kobler Ingolds forestillingsevne inn i en relasjonell ontogenese, er det ikke lenger begrepene eller forklaringene som blir de viktigste, og vi trenger å «develop a way of study, or a method, that would join with the people and things with whom and which we share a world, allowing knowledge to grow from our correspondences with them» (Ingold, 2022a, s. xii). Menneskene og lydlandskapene er gjensidige deltagere i en livsverden i en pågående co-responderingsprosess. Når det lydlige og profesjonsutøveren co-responderer i barnehagens praksis, produseres en relasjonell effekt (Ingold, 2013) som vi i denne artikkelen forstår som profesjonsutøvelse. En slik profesjonsforståelse er «av verden», den blir til i aktiv deltagelse, og kan ikke separeres fra verden rundt. ...
Faglige vurderinger som inngår i barnehagelæreres arbeid med barnehagens lydmiljø er et lite undersøkt område. I barnehagens lydmiljøer skjer profesjonsutøvelse samtidig som at barnehagelæreren tar del i hverdagens lydopplevelser. I denne artikkelen utforskes barnehagelæreres faglige resonnementer, med særlig blikk på (1) regulering av lyders sammensetning, mengde og styrke, (2) hvilke vurderinger som inngår når barnehagelærere skaper lydmiljøer med lyd og (3) hvordan opplevelser av å være i lyd former profesjonsutøvelsen. Empirien er hentet fra en samtale med fire barnehagelærere som deltok i et aksjons-inspirert prosjekt om lydlandskaper. Analysen er inspirert av kollektiv kvalitativ analyse. Forfatterne utforsker, med begreper fra soundscape-forskning, hvordan lydlandskaper co-responderer» med profesjonsutøvelse. Funn viser at barnehagelærerne justerer barnehagens lydbilde gjennom dirigering og orkestrering. Artikkelen drøfter hvordan ulike kunnskapsformer settes i spill når barnehagelæreren forestiller seg og beveger seg med lydlandskaper. Bevegelsene og sensitiviteten som trer fram aktiverer verbet lydlandskaping. Avslutningsvis drøfter forfatterne om termen lydlandskaping kan åpne for å undersøke barnehagelærerens vurderinger i lydmiljøer som en gjøren. ENGLISH ABSTRACT Soundscaping. Early childhood teachers’ professional work with sound environment in kindergartens Professional assessments as part of early childhood teachers’ work with the sound environment in kindergartens are a little-explored area. This article examines content-based reasoning as part of early childhood teacher’s professional work. In the sound environments of kindergartens, professional practice occurs simultaneously as the kindergarten teacher participates in everyday sound experiences. The article has a particular focus on (1) professional reasoning concerning the composition, amount, and intensity of sounds, (2) the assessments involved when early childhood teachers create sound environments, and (3) how experiences of taking part in a sound milieu shape professional practice. The empirical data is derived from a group conversation with four early childhood teachers who participated in an action-inspired project about soundscapes. The analysis is inspired by collective qualitative analysis. The authors explore, using concepts from soundscape research, how soundscapes co-respond with professional practice. Findings show that the early childhood teachers adjust the kindergarten’s soundscape through directing and orchestrating. The article discusses how different forms of knowledge are activated when the early childhood teacher imagines and moves with soundscapes. The movements and sensitivities that emerge activate the verb soundscaping. Finally, the authors discuss whether the term soundscaping can open for investigating kindergarten teachers’ assessments in sound environments as a doing.
... De uma forma geral, termos técnicos como semiose, cultura, ideologia, história e socialização surgem como pressupostos teórico-metodológicos que caracterizam a existência humana a priori. Como consequência disso, comportam-se como categorias explicativas em vez de fenômenos que deveriam ser explicados (Ingold, 2013). ...
Esta pesquisa, inserida na Linha 2 do Posletras, busca contribuir para o desenvolvimento da teoria geral da Linguística Sistêmico-Funcional (Matthiessen e Teruya, 2023). Para tal, tem como objeto de estudo o fenômeno da ideologia sob uma perspectiva transdisciplinar envolvendo linguística, biologia evolutiva contemporânea e seus ramos, respaldando-se de forma mais precisa na Teoria Sistêmico-Funcional (doravante TSF) (Halliday, 2002, 2003, 2007) e na Síntese Estendida da Evolução (doravante SEE) a partir da Teoria da Construção de Nicho (Levins e Lewontin, 2007; Pigliucci e Muller, 2010). Busca-se reinterpretar o que é a ideologia e qual é o seu papel relativamente ao fenômeno da variação ideológico-semântica (Hasan, 2009), tendo em vista a não consolidação da modelagem teórica deste fenômeno na literatura sistêmico-funcional, apesar da existência de vasta literatura sobre o tema (Matthiessen e Teruya, 2023). Neste trabalho, remodela- se o fenômeno da variação e diversificação ideológico-semântica a partir de diálogo com a Teoria da Construção de Nicho, observando a sua relação com os mecanismos de produção de significado (Figueredo et al., 2024), sobretudo com as dimensões teóricas da instanciação e da estratificação (Halliday, 2002). Sendo assim, a síntese proposta busca contribuir para expandir os fundamentos evolutivos da TSF, introduzindo um modelo sociosemiótico-evolutivo que integra ideologia, língua e construção de nicho como processos coevolutivos. Metodologicamente, a pesquisa é de caráter teórico e exploratório, baseada em análise crítica e comparação de modelos conceituais provenientes da TSF e da SEE. O objetivo é identificar convergências epistemológicas, metáforas explicativas e lacunas teóricas nas duas abordagens. Mais especificamente, parte de duas teses metodológicas que se complementam em pesquisas de caráter teórico e de construção de sínteses: a tese da consiliência (Carroll, McAdams e Wilson, 2016) e a tese do metadiálogo (Hasan, 2009). Em termos de resultado, há a construção de um modelo conceitual e um modelo formal que sintetizam as duas teorias. A partir da modelagem conceitual, criou-se um modelo formal para investigações empíricas posteriores.
... Rather than asking whether research-creation is relevant according to existing standards, we might ask instead: what kind of relevance does art afford? (Ingold 2013;Leavy 2015). If we are serious about relationality, then we must also take seriously the forms of knowing that do not aim to explain, control, or solve, but to witness, provoke, and inspire. ...
This commentary reflects on the contributions of the special issue, Modes of Relevance in Research: Towards Understanding the Promises and Possibilities of Doing Relevance, dedicated to examining how research is made relevant in diverse epistemic and institutional contexts. It argues that the dominant framing of relevance as a problem-solving function is insufficient to capture the affective, ethical, and imaginative dimensions of knowledge-making. Building on the typology of “modes of relevance” introduced in the issue, the commentary highlights recurring tensions—between realist and performative views, curiosity-driven inquiry and applied mandates, and soft versus hard forms of relevance. It further proposes that doing relevance is a practice of meaning-making. Through examples from climate communication, Indigenous knowledge sovereignty, and research-creation in the arts, the commentary explores how experiential knowledge, emotional resonance, and narrative engagement expand the scope of what counts as relevant. It calls for a more plural, reflexive, and context-sensitive approach to relevance—one that recognizes epistemic diversity, relational ethics, and the capacity of research to resonate across temporal, affective, and political registers. Ultimately, the piece shifts the frame of societal relevance from the logic of problem-solving to an affective, ethically entangled practice of meaning-making—one that acknowledges the power of knowledge to unsettle assumptions, stir imagination, and draw us into deeper, more caring engagements with the world.
... While video documentation has been a staple in ethnographic research [9], its use as a tool for prompting practitioners to reflect on their actions and articulate implicit knowledge remains underexplored. Studies in cognitive anthropology suggest that selfconfrontation interviews can significantly enhance the verbalization of tacit knowledge, leading to the more comprehensive documentation of complex manual skills [13]. By systematically linking event logs to specific recorded actions, this approach facilitates detailed analysis and semantic annotation, bridging the gap between qualitative and quantitative research methods. ...
Traditional ethnographic methods have long been employed to study craft practices, yet they often fall short of capturing the full depth of embodied knowledge, material interactions, and procedural workflows inherent in craftsmanship. This paper introduces a digitally enhanced ethnographic framework that integrates Motion Capture, 3D scanning, audiovisual documentation, and semantic knowledge representation to document both the tangible and dynamic aspects of craft processes. By distinguishing between endurant (tools, materials, objects) and perdurant (actions, events, transformations) entities, we propose a structured methodology for analyzing craft gestures, material behaviors, and production workflows. The study applies this proposed framework to eight European craft traditions—including glassblowing, tapestry weaving, woodcarving, porcelain pottery, marble carving, silversmithing, clay pottery, and textile weaving—demonstrating the adaptability of digital ethnographic tools across disciplines. Through a combination of multimodal data acquisition and expert-driven annotation, we present a comprehensive model for craft documentation that enhances the preservation, education, and analysis of artisanal knowledge. This research contributes to the ongoing evolution of ethnographic methods by bridging digital technology with Cultural Heritage studies, offering a robust framework for understanding the mechanics and meanings of craft practices.
... In this context, data sharing involves the exchange and use of data -such as network data, asset data, organizational data, and user data -among infrastructure operators to optimize the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of their assets (Hazell, Novitzky, and van den Oord 2023). Perhaps more pressingly, data sharing is increasingly perceived as essential to create a more secure, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure network responsive to today's major challenges of crises management, climate change, and energy transition (Harvey and Knox 2015;Gupta 2018;Ingold 2013;Biersteker and Marrewijk 2023). Think of the sharing of operational asset data among collaborating partners to revolutionize project execution and build "smarter" infrastructures (Deloitte 2017). ...
Organizational research on data sharing in inter-organizational contexts is limited, giving little insight into why data is or is not shared, often bypassing social and cultural norms, values and perspectives, and issues of power, (dis)trust, and (un)willingness to share. Drawing on an empirical study in the infrastructure sector in the Netherlands, where administrators increasingly urge infrastructure operators to share their data to create a more integrated and resilient infrastructure network, we ask: How is data sharing enabled and constrained according to organizational actors of critical infrastructure operators? Our findings exhibit five perceived challenges and five opportunities of sharing data, providing two main contributions to business anthropology and organization studies. Theoretically, we reconceptualize data sharing as “gift-giving,” helping to identify and understand the human-centered facets hitherto overlooked such as the reciprocal relations and cultural tensions associated with inter-organizational data exchange. Empirically, contributing in a more pragmatic sense, we add the notion of “enclosing” which entails the situational exchange of mutually agreed upon, limited data among pre-selected organizations via a bounded platform. We suggest that the enclosed platforms provide a context conducive for reciprocal data-gifting and a framework for future practical applications of data sharing in (inter)organizational settings.
... As pointed out by the movements intending to decolonise design practice and research (Martins et al., Ingold says anthropologists are justly proud of participant observation as a method and discipline (Ingold, 2013). My research is partly connected to that perspective but also carries elements of reflective practice. ...
This thesis explores the transformative potential of reshaping the way cities handle excess materials. In particular, it explores a shift from industry-oriented waste management to community-based waste prevention through practices of reuse at a local level. The central research question addressed is: 'How can practices of reuse contribute to reimagining and reshaping the way cities handle excess materials?'. Through a series of interconnected research cycles, this investigation dives into the nuances of cultures of reuse through repair, upcycling and recirculation, and challenges the prevalent mindset focused almost exclusively on recycling, incineration, and landfilling of materials. The research begins by employing design research methods to understand how discarded and unused materials are transformed and redistributed in urban contexts. It then investigates forms of embodied knowledge in reuse initiatives, in order to leverage such practices with open-source ways of organising community initiatives. Finally, the thesis connects to policy-making, introducing the concept of 'generous cities'. During the doctoral investigation, eight design concepts were created, and three prototypes developed. Altogether, they capture the research findings and expand their potential impact in establishing local systems of material reuse. The generous city highlights the ability to weave convivial forms of addressing the multiple contemporary crises-social, environmental, economic-by foregrounding collective forms of mutual care, cultural regeneration, and resource conservation. The thesis contributes to scholarship on waste management and urban sustainability, adopting a critical, transdisciplinary, and situated perspective. Additionally, the research offers practical tools to promote and scale community-based waste prevention. It presents an essential pivot from the current focus on recycling towards more sustainable, community-oriented, and generous urban environments.
... Relationalism, on the other hand, challenges these dualities by suggesting that what we consider as 'individuals,' 'objects,' or 'subjects' are in fact embedded within a web of relations that define and constitute them. By emphasizing the interconnectedness of entities, it suggests that human experience (Thompson, 2007;Varela et al., 2017), social structures (Emirbayer, 1997), and even the material world (Ingold, 2013) cannot be fully understood without considering the dynamic network of relationships in which they are embedded. ...
This paper proposes an enhanced version of the relational approach in the philosophy and ethics of robotics by integrating it with enactivism. The paper begins by providing a concise overview of the relational approach within the field, outlining its key contributions and limitations. It then identifies significant issues in the current version of relationalism, such as its reliance on partial phenomenology, the problem of morality-before-morality, bad inclusion, and the treatment of the relation as a black box. To address these concerns, the paper introduces phenomenologically inspired enactivism and demonstrates how incorporating enactivist principles can resolve these challenges. By applying enactivism, the paper argues for a more robust understanding of human-robot interaction, where relational dynamics are understood as lived, embodied processes that are essential for constructing the otherness of robots.
... The IEEE's 2023 mentorship program engaged 40% of members in AI-related skill-sharing (IEEE, 2023), affirming feasibility despite time demands. This recognizes that while relational tacit knowledge externalizes, somatic and social expertise endures (Collins, 2010;Ingold, 2013). ...
This perspective paper examines a fundamental paradox in the relationship between professional expertise and artificial intelligence: as domain experts increasingly collaborate with AI systems by externalizing their implicit knowledge, they potentially accelerate the automation of their own expertise. Through analysis of multiple professional contexts, we identify emerging patterns in human-AI collaboration and propose frameworks for professionals to navigate this evolving landscape. Drawing on research in knowledge management, expertise studies, human-computer interaction, and labor economics, we develop a nuanced understanding of how professional value may be preserved and transformed in an era of increasingly capable AI systems. Our analysis suggests that while the externalization of tacit knowledge presents certain risks to traditional professional roles, it also creates opportunities for the evolution of expertise and the emergence of new forms of professional value. We conclude with implications for professional education, organizational design, and policy development that can help ensure the codification of expert knowledge enhances rather than diminishes the value of human expertise.
... What then does this mean for archaeological studies applying new animism to hunter-gatherer communities from the distant past? If animisms and animations are generated by the corresponding relations with environments and their non-human co-inhabitants, as can be argued based on the works of others (Bird-David, 1990, 1999;Descola, 2014;Ingold, 2011aIngold, , 2011aIngold, , 2013Viveiros de Castro, 1998), then it is more likely that the hunter-fisher-gatherers of the distant past perceived their environments and their non-human coinhabitations in similar ways as reflected in the ethnographic materials of northwestern Siberia rather than the dualistic premises of Western thought. They too, like the hunter-fisher-herders of northwestern Siberia, made their living based on the tasks of hunting, fishing and gathering -namely, the very material relations that most likely continued in some form of animation. ...
War is often viewed through the lens of strategy, statecraft, and technological progress. However, both war and violence in general are deeply rooted in social and cultural frameworks.
From Mesolithic conflicts to Early Modern naval warfare, this interdisciplinary anthology explores the practice and perception of various forms of violence in past societies, revealing patterns that prompt reflection on modern assumptions about war. Blending insights from Conflict Archaeology and War Studies, the work underscores the critical value of material culture in understanding the complexities of warfare, both theoretically and methodologically.
For Conflict Archaeology and war scholars, this work advances a perspective that situates violence and warfare within broader social and cultural contexts, emphasizing that war is more than just tactics and technology – it is a social reality embedded in both human action and material culture.
... Indepth observational exploration will be used as the primary method. In theoretical literature, it is also described as intensive, long term immersive 'being there', leading to experiential, embodied knowledge, termed 'knowing from the inside' (Ingold, 2013). I aim to examine interspecies communication through sensory collaboration, including sound, animal track ing, and film recording. ...
... La posición en que Sofía se acuesta, la decisión de recostarse ahí, todo es una respuesta específica que se da por y para su entorno y materialidades. Son correspondencias (Ingold, 2013) que "entran en juego" (Hultman & Lenz Taguchi, 2010, p. 530), y esta forma de ser, jugar y de convertirse son "procesos de construcción de significados con cuerpos en lugares" (Hackett & Rautio, 2019, p. 1020. Entonces, en esta escena, se observa que las entidades van formándose y transformándose una y otra vez, coconstruyendo juegos, identidades, aprendizajes, y dando paso de manera permanente a nuevas y diferentes intraacciones. ...
Narrativas recientes desafían la perspectiva antropocéntrica en educación infantil. No obstante, el sistema educativo aún relega el rol de las materialidades. Basadas en un enfoque posthumanista, exploramos la intraacción entre lo humano y lo más que humano, resaltando su influencia mutua y dinámica en espacios de juego al aire libre. Este artículo se basa en datos recogidos de una investigación previa, de tres sesiones de juego con 12 niños, de entre 3 y 6 años, en las que se documentaron conversaciones y fotografías, y se realizaron lecturas difractivas. Estas sesiones analizaron, desde una perspectiva posthumanista y postcualitativa, cómo las materialidades cocrean mundos y juegos con las niñeces, indagando en el rol de todo lo más que humano en la configuración del ser humano y sus aprendizajes, desafiando así las jerarquías tradicionales. Las conclusiones apuntan a la necesidad de replantear el aprendizaje como proceso dinámico, relacional y decolonizado de espacios formales.
In an everyday perspective of resistance, there is a tendency to favor human action and agency, both in the exercise of power or in the acts of resistance. The aim of this study is to examine material agency in everyday power dynamics and to open a methodology of resistance studies in the realm of physical objects, designs, and materials. In correlation to a “new materialist” perspective on power, resistance works to build affinity between humans and nonhuman agency and disrupt materially supported subordination. In this study, a materialist methodology is introduced, with examples of how consumer objects are transformed to interfere with consumer relationships to become tools for cultivating resistant capabilities. As a case, the study examines a handbag made from a cookie box, produced by the Spanish activist “movement” Yomango, where the material properties of the metal box are mobilized to become active in the resistance. From a materialist perspective, the handbag becomes more than a symbolic prop for human-led activists and joins the ranks of co-resistors.
This chapter examines Barkai's tenure as the National Supervisor of Art Education in Israel (2011–2023). It opens by evaluating the historical trajectory of art education curricula since 1948. The attention then turns to an imminent development: the introduction of a new curriculum for high school art majors set to launch in 2024. Barkai introduces her innovative approach to artistic learning, which involves the integration of four distinct theoretical frameworks: art-based research, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, the theory of Studio Habits of Mind, and a cross-sectional inquiry that blends sociological and art historical perspectives. Barkai elaborates on her new approach, encapsulated in the “Gam ve Gam” (Hebrew: “This as well as that”) principle. This model draws upon specifically and personally tailored methods that integrate various multimodal pedagogical practices, amalgamating theoretical research and practice-based research-creation in both the studio and the classroom.
This article investigates the nineteenth-century craft idealism and twentieth-century aesthetic materialities in the American Studio Glass Movement (1962–). Second-generation studio glassblowers are cited as having equipped the glassblowing studio with a “how-to” technical knowledge system learned in Venice, Italy. Drawing on four years of ethnographic research, this article investigates the origin, transmission, and integration of this logic into early expressionist studio glass in the context of both American progressive and counterculture values. In doing so, it shifts the historical narrative of studio glass away from individuals to broader social forces.
This chapter discusses the implications of Stables’ learning and educational theories for articulating the challenges facing contemporary environmental education in an era of climate crisis, arguing that response-ability (Stables, Be(com)ing Human: Semiosis and the Myth of Reason. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012)—the ability to respond (or not respond)—is enacted primarily within acknowledging limits and limitations, most fundamentally, the limits of a planet with limited resources and carrying capacity. This connects to a cornerstone of Stables’ semiotic theory of learning, the basic principle: that which enables learning is also what limits it. I argue that in terms of educating in this historical moment, this amounts to the challenge of educating for a post-growth future, in a world-economic order committed and oriented towards accelerated growth and consumption.
This article features a theoretical example—a seemingly simple example that possesses, nonetheless, the potential to advance theory. Since the example radiates with the glow of silence and movement, it resists conventional analysis. Using words and images to trouble the grammar of an orderly world with hierarchal relations and depersonalized language commonly found in conventional analyses, the article aligns with a grammar of animacy to follow the agentive, sensorial, and relational encounter between an elementary student and the secret life of fractions and geometry concepts. The article offers two-way implications for research and practice, namely: (a) “what’s in it that could have an effect on my research” and (b) “how am I implicated in the effect of my own research.”
This article examines the negative geographies that rural female Dai paper‐cutters encounter in and beyond their craft‐making lives. By providing their alternative stories, it aims to diversify the utopian landscape of craft‐making in current academia. Multiple relational and non‐relational, embodied and political negatives emerge from paper‐cutters' body–world relationships. We situate such negatives and their geographies within the act of craft‐making to identify how these negatives develop and how to interact with them. First, craft‐making is an essentially embodied practice – involving repetitive corporeal movements, personal mental creativities and prolonged working – that occurs while learning, developing and utilising the skill. Such negatives can be released in craft makers' spiritual lives. Furthermore, the ‘heritagisation’ of Dai paper‐cutting has imposed more responsibilities and burdens on female craft makers, creating unequal social networks of makers, their families, other villagers and local governments. Such negatives are rooted and embedded in the politics of heritage. We reconsider negative perspectives on the geographies of making to call for more ‘careful’ attention to the concerns of disadvantaged women and their bodies through an analysis of craft makers' negative embodied experiences and the political dilemmas of heritage. Opening space for negatives in geographies of craft‐making can also advance understanding of the multiplicitous character of negatives more generally.
The current consensus is that we live in the global age of surveillance capitalism that takes a variety of forms and names. As opposed to the classic view that associates surveillance with punishment, in surveillance capitalism, instant gratification or promised reward replaces the punishment. This chapter tackles the question of enhanced surveillance and analyzes how the system of rewards designed to both generate data and domesticate behavior is a reflection of our relationship with the concept of nature—both human and nonhuman. If nature was historically a product of observation and classification, our aspiration to build a perfect society brings politics back to nature as we define it. Unfortunately, human classifications are not neutral. On the contrary, inequalities and hierarchy are embedded in them. The argument here is that the system of surveillance and reward in the population governance of today has as its ultimate goal the eradication of finitude. In the process, we recreate and operate with highly problematic classifications of human beings, and we renaturalize it with the help of technology.
This article discusses Minna Ruckenstein's notion of breathing spaces as a critical perspective for rethinking digital futures beyond techno-solutionism. In a context where algorithmic architectures and data extraction increasingly shape behaviours, decisions, and imaginaries, Ruckenstein invites the social sciences and humanities to proactively engage in the design and governance of digital technologies. I analyse three key ideas from her work: breathing, critical making, and the re-humanisation of technologies, while also proposing the need to expand these concepts toward a planetary perspective. I argue that breathing is not merely an aesthetic metaphor, but can become a practice of resistance that connects the digital with the planetary. This implies recognising the material entanglement of the digital with specific territories and its deep interdependence with the living beings that shape our environments.
Foregrounding two original plays about Turner Syndrome written in collaboration with an interlocutor with the genetic condition, this article explores the aesthetic dissonance that emerged while co‐playwriting via Skype and Google Docs. Foregrounding the aesthetic sensibilities and conventions, normative representational concerns, and sensuous knowledges interrogated and produced in the process, this article exemplifies how multimodal collaborations are enmeshed in considerations of access in anthropology that promote ethical discovery and transformation with our interlocutors. To extend this process to the reader, excerpts from Someone to Talk To and Hope Deferred are presented in visual dialogue with commentary from the playwriting process.
This Element proposes that, in addition to using traditional historical methodologies, historians need to find extra-textual, embodied ways of understanding the past in order to more fully comprehend it. Written by a medieval historian, the Element explains why historians assume they cannot use reperformance in historical inquiry and why they, in fact, should. The Element employs tools from the discipline of performance studies, which has long grappled with the differences between the archive and the repertoire, between the records of historical performances and the embodied movements, memories, and emotions of the performance itself, which are often deemed unknowable by scholars. It shows how an embodied epistemology is particularly suited to studying certain premodern historical topics, using the example of medieval monasticism. Finally, using the case of performance-lectures given at The Met Cloisters, it shows how using performance as a tool for historical investigation might work.
This introduction to the special issue “Performance, Projection, Provocation! Relational Creativity in Contemporary Japan” presents a history of group-based creative practice in Japan, from the amateur endeavors of sākuru (circles) to the professional creativity of international production companies. The special issue applies the concept of “relational creativity” to a series of case studies to better understand how creative practices shape relationships and other social forms, institutional and less institutional.
The Ministry of the Environment of Japan reports that most environmental education in Japan lacks substantial action. The interviews we conducted with primary school teachers also revealed that limited space, time, and teaching materials make it difficult for them to implement effective environmental education. To address these issues, this study aims to design a fermentation kit named NIKO (Nuka In Koji Out) and to explore its potential as a tool for promoting environmental education and awareness of non-human beings in daily life. This kit is designed to engage families with children in the process of making rice koji, a traditional Japanese fermented food, and encourages them to interact with invisible microorganisms and begin to think of themselves as part of the ecosystem. The prototype of the NIKO fermentation kit was based on the Design Research Through Practice methodology, which involves hypothesis from literature review and interviews, experiment, analysis, and evaluation. Before and after the workshop, as well as 1 month later, participants completed a questionnaire about their awareness and behavioral changes. Based on the survey results, the fermentation kit workshop was found to be a positive experience for participants, including children, who expressed a sense of joy in making something from scratch and an increased affection for the world of microbes. This research results suggest that the fermentation kit has the potential to provide an effective and engaging way to raise awareness of the importance of microorganisms in daily lives and to introduce environmental education to families with children in Japan.
This paper explores the intersection of DIY making cultures and ethnographic research in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The global crisis profoundly disrupted my doctoral research, originally focused on prototyping alternative futures through urban living labs. Confronted with lockdown restrictions and social distancing measures, my research site shifted unexpectedly to my own balcony, where I engaged in DIY practices such as building a chair from reclaimed materials and fermenting sourdough. This embodied engagement with making not only stabilized my sense of agency but also became a methodological lens to rethink knowledge production in times of crisis. By reflecting on my personal experiences, I argue that DIY practices during the pandemic evolved beyond leisure activities to become meaningful epistemic and care practices, that embrace long-standing local traditions. This shift in Western perception highlights the socio-material entanglement of making as a response to uncertainty, reconfiguring DIY from a discourse of self-sufficiency to one of social care and resilience. In doing so, my study aligns with inventive methodologies in Science and Technology Studies, which emphasize knowledge production through material engagement. The pandemic destabilized traditional ethnographic boundaries, prompting questions about the field, researcher-subject relationships, and disciplinary constraints in social sciences. In the paper, I suggest that DIY making not only offers a means of coping but also illuminates new ways of understanding and constructing knowledge. This re-situated and practice-based PhD research contributes to broader discussions on inventive methodologies, feminist technoscience, and the role of materiality in ethnographic inquiry, advocating for a more caring and inclusive approach to knowledge production.
This paper examines secondary rock art practices in southern Africa and how they served as mechanisms for expressing and negotiating identity through iterative engagement with existing artistic traditions. Often dismissed as mere 'graffiti' or vandalism, these practices of modifying, adding to, or reinterpreting historic rock art represent sophisticated forms of engagement with inherited cultural landscapes. Through detailed analysis of mode, placement, and technique, this article demonstrates how secondary artists used existing imagery as both physical and symbolic resources, selectively mobilising earlier artforms to articulate their own positions within changing social worlds. With their technical choices encoding specific attitudes towards inherited traditions, secondary artists appear as one of many audiences-a range which includes contemporary researchers-engaging with these artistic traditions as subjects of common interest, their modifications creating material epistolaries that capture how different communities understood and positioned themselves relative to their own imaginations of the past. By reconceptualising these practices as meaningful interpretive acts rather than degradation, this paper contributes to broader discussions about how African identities have been articulated, contested, and preserved through active engagement with cultural heritage across time.
This chapter explores beadwork as a fundamental skill associated with being a ‘good’ Nyonya. It examines how the heritage of beaded shoes, beaded objects and the practice of beading itself reflect processes of adaptation, innovation and engagement with external influences. Much like Nyonya cuisine, beaded shoes and their production are deeply linked to maritime networks and the historical trajectories of the port city. Beads offer a compelling case study of how a commodity that initially passed through George Town as part of wider trade networks became embedded in local heritage, transforming into what are regarded as ‘inalienable possessions’. As beading skills have largely faded due to a lack of time or expertise, most Nyonya now purchase beaded shoes rather than crafting them. Nevertheless, these shoes continue to serve as markers of distinction, a function that this chapter further explores in relation to clothing and dress practices.
Cet article revient sur le processus d’élaboration de l’exposition 120 vaches (2019) afin d’illustrer et d’expliciter la démarche coopérative et la dynamique collective mise en place entre la militante féministe, les chercheuses – l’une géographe, l’autre anthropologue – et l’artiste et curateur de l’exposition. L’objectif est de souligner les perspectives ouvertes par les projets dans lesquels artistes et chercheur·es se mobilisent avec, par et pour le projet d’une activiste et dans lesquels la place de co-chercheurs des participant·es est pleinement reconnue à toutes les étapes du projet : de l’élaboration, à l’analyse et à la valorisation du savoir produit.
Although Bourdieu’s theory of practice has drawn widespread attention to the role of the body and space in social life, the concept of habitus is problematic as an explanatory account of dynamic embodiment because it lacks an adequate conception of the nature and location of human agency. An alternative model is presented which locates agency in the causal powers and capacities of embodied persons to engage in dialogic, signifying acts. Grounded in a non-Cartesian concept of person and ‘new realist’, post-positivist philosophy of science, vocal signs and action signs, not the dispositions of a habitus, become the means by which humans exercise agency in dynamically embodied practices. Ethnographic data from the communicative practices of the Nakota (Assiniboine) people of northern Montana (USA) support and illustrate the theoretical argument.
This article considers conceptual links between producing installation art works in the present and interpreting prehistoric lifeworlds. We consider connections between the work of contemporary ‘landscape’, ‘environmental’ or ‘ecological’ artists and an on-going landscape archaeology project centred on Leskernick Hill, Bodmin Moor in the south-west of Britain. We argue that the production of art works in the present can be a powerful means of interpreting the past in the present. Both the practices of interpreting the past and producing art result in the production of something new that transforms our understanding of place and space resulting in the creation of new meaning. Art and archaeology can act together dialectically to produce a novel conceptualization of the past and produce a means of relating to the past that is considerably more than the sum of its parts.
The authors intend to show in this article that, unlike what is usually said, some great apes are able to tie knots. First, they give the result of a survey on the Internet whose result has been to identify twelve “knot-maker” apes: seven orangutans, three bonobos and two chimpanzees. All of them have been reared by humans and are highly accultured anthropoids living in zoos. Second, they offer an ethnography of a knot-making orangutan, Wattana, a resident of the Ménagerie of the Jardin deśum National d’Histoire Naturelle) in Paris, who was born on 17 November 1995 at the Antwerp Zoo in Belgium. The authors show that she is able to make true knots using her hands, feet and mouth and carefully describe the process involved. They then correlate Wattana’s knots, fiber techniques and ecology of techniques with nest-making behavior and propose an ethology of the singular, at the crossroad of ethology and ethnology, to describe Wattana’s skills.
Archaeologists do not have to look to external theory to kick-start the interpretation of material remains. Greater confidence can be placed in the meanings which emerge from our most basic encounters with archaeological evidence, which impart a direction and trajectory to research from the very outset – realigning applied ideas and giving impetus to new intellectual currents. Such emergent meanings already have intrinsic movement and vibrancy, deriving from a strong grounding in an unfolding material world opened up through excavation and direct contact with things. This paper explores the ways in which archaeologists follow the rhythms and flows of cuts, artefacts and other material entities.
Gothic cathedrals like Chartres were built in a discontinuous process by groups of masons using their own local knowledge, measures, and techniques. They had neither plans nor knowledge of structural mechanics. The success of the masons in building such large complex innovative structures lies in the use of templates, string, constructive geometry, and social organization to assemble a coherent whole from the messy heterogeneous practices of diverse groups of workers. Chartres resulted from the ad hoc accumulation of the work of many men.
The behavior of wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea, was studied from November 1976 to May 1977 recognizing each chimpanzee without artificial feeding. During the study period some tool-using and tool-making behavior was observed, as follows: (1) Although water drinking using a “leaf-sponge” was not seen, that using a “leaf-spoon” was observed for taking water from the hollow of a tree. (2) “Termite fishing” was not seen in this group although there were many termite hills in the moving range of the chimpanzees. They dug termites from the hollow of a tree by pounding with a small stick. Similar use of a stick was made for digging up the resin from a tree. (3) “Aimed throwing” was frequently observed in adult males for attacking an observer, and in adolescents and juveniles as mischief against an observer or for their own play. (4) “Nut cracking” with a pair of stones was seen for removing the ovule from palm-seeds. Particular stones were repeatedly used by many chimpanzees for a long period. (5) “Branch hauling” represented difficult work. Patient and inventive manufacture of proper sticks was necessary for capturing branches which they were unable to reach normally.
Local variations in the tool-using patterns and manufacturing ability of chimpanzees are discussed.
Consider a potter throwing a vessel on the wheel. Think of the complex ways brain, body, wheel and clay relate and interact with one another throughout the different stages of this activity and try to imagine some of the resources (physical, mental or biological) needed for the enaction of this creative process. Focus, for instance, on the first minutes of action when the potter attempts to centre the lump of clay on the wheel. The hands are grasping the clay. The fingers, bent slightly following the surface curvature, sense the clay and exchange vital tactile information necessary for a number of crucial decisions that are about to follow in the next few seconds. What is it that guides the dextrous positioning of the potter’s hands and decides upon the precise amount of forward or downward pressure necessary for centring a lump of clay on the wheel? How do the potter’s fingers come to know the precise force of the appropriate grip? What makes these questions even more fascinating is the ease by which the phenomena which they describe are accomplished. Yet underlying the effortless manner in which the potter’s hand reaches for and gradually shapes the wet clay lies a whole set of conceptual challenges to some of our most deeply entrenched assumptions about what it means to be a human agent.
The theory of socialization In every society, in every generation, children grow up to become knowledgeable members of the communities in which they live. Sociologists and anthropologists have classically described this process as one of socialization. The new-born child, they say, comes into the world as an entirely asocial being equipped, to be sure, with certain innate response mechanisms, but without any of the information that enables adults to function as persons in the social world. Socialization, then, is the process whereby this information is taken on board. Among other things, the child acquires rules for categorizing and positioning other people in the social environment, and guidelines for appropriate action towards them. Consider, for example, the way a child learns to behave towards kin. It is taught to recognize the people in its familiar surroundings as belonging to specific categories such as (in our society) mother, father, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, cousin, etc. and that for each category, certain kinds of behavior are appropriate or inappropriate. Furnished with the rudiments of the kinship system, the child can then begin to participate in social life. The originally asocial infant has become a social being, a person, equipped to play his or her part vis-vis other persons on the stage of society. This view of socialization has to be understood in the context of general ideas about humanity and nature that are deeply embedded in our own, so-called western tradition of thought and science. © Cambridge University Press 2008 and Cambridge University Press, 2009.
This contribution is part of a special issue on History and Human Nature, comprising an essay by G.E.R. Lloyd and fifteen invited responses.
This paper examines the processes by which early alternative, green-oriented building codes - namely those for straw bale building - were created. It compares these with the visual processes in industrial design work. The comparison reveals clear parallels in the ways in which tacit and experiential knowledge is conveyed through visual representation. The study examines how straw bale building innovators in Arizona and New Mexico, US, used visual discourse to convey technical knowledge within their own building community, and how they used visual discourse in the form of historical documentation, illustrative sketches, and video footage to make a convincing case for their technique as a viable one for code officials, even though visual representations were not allowed in building standards, per se, at the time. The research methods used are participant observation, in-depth interviews, and discourse analysis.
This paper reflects on drawing as a medium for acquiring knowledge and understanding of the possibilities and workings of architecture by analysing examples. Drawing has been much discussed as a medium for design and of communication in architecture, but the potential of its role as a medium for analysis, though recognized, has not enjoyed the same attention. The paper begins with a review of drawing's use as a medium of communication and as a medium for the generation, development and refinement of design; it then focuses on drawing's use as a medium for analysing examples. The paper discusses the relationship between drawing and architecture and uses some of the author's own photographs and drawings as illustrations. It argues that rather than being a distinct mediator between architecture (the contribution of the mind) and building (the physical realization of architecture), drawing involves both. Drawing, therefore, can be seen as a surrogate replication on paper of the intellectual (architecture) and constructional (building). In conclusion, the paper argues that drawing constitutes not merely an instrument of architectural production (design and communication), but, as the envelope of both architecture and building, is the arena of architectural power.
This article discusses the implications handaxes have for symbolic behavior. After arguing that handaxes were, in fact, intentional products of prehistoric minds, and not simply cores, the article discusses the form‐function fallacy, the possible semiotic role of handaxes, the role of rule‐governed behavior in handaxe manufacture, and the nature of technological learning. The conclusions are negative: handaxes were not signs, did not require grammar‐like rules and did not require symbolic instruction. They would, however, have been consistent with a ‘mimetic’ culture.
Functional specialization in the brain is considered a hallmark of efficient processing. It is therefore not surprising that there are brain areas specialized for processing letters. To better understand the causes of functional specialization for letters, we explore the emergence of this pattern of response in the ventral processing stream through a training paradigm. Previously, we hypothesized that the specialized response pattern seen during letter perception may be due in part to our experience in writing letters. The work presented here investigates whether or not this aspect of letter processing-the integration of sensorimotor systems through writing-leads to functional specialization in the visual system. To test this idea, we investigated whether or not different types of experiences with letter-like stimuli ("pseudoletters") led to functional specialization similar to that which exists for letters. Neural activation patterns were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after three different types of training sessions. Participants were trained to recognize pseudoletters by writing, typing, or purely visual practice. Results suggested that only after writing practice did neural activation patterns to pseudoletters resemble patterns seen for letters. That is, neural activation in the left fusiform and dorsal precentral gyrus was greater when participants viewed pseudoletters than other, similar stimuli but only after writing experience. Neural activation also increased after typing practice in the right fusiform and left precentral gyrus, suggesting that in some areas, any motor experience may change visual processing. The results of this experiment suggest an intimate interaction among perceptual and motor systems during pseudoletter perception that may be extended to everyday letter perception.