Compramos tecnología por la novedad, por estatus o por simple necesidad. Pero varios estudios sugieren que a la hora de deshacernos de los aparatos somos más afectivos que pragmáticos.
Book review. Craft and the Creative Economy by Susan Luckman.
In Craft and the Creative Economy, Susan Luckman looks at the rise of the craft entrepreneur and the growth of the handmade economy as an Internet-driven phenomenon. This is an appealing look at the renewed trend towards craft and making that gives valued attention to both the role of digital networks and the gendered and classed implications of this particular aspect of the contemporary creative industries, writes Paz Concha.
This post was originally published in the LSE Review of Books Blog.
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V de Victoria: cómo la industria artesanal y sus barrios se están revitalizando.
Fuente: Viste la calle
El caso de la industria artesanal del calzado nacional es un interesante ejemplo para entender cómo una serie de procesos sociales, como la revalorización del trabajo creativo manual, la generación de mercados de nicho, y el uso de Internet y las redes sociales, confluyen para poner en valor una práctica de trabajo y regenerar un espacio urbano olvidado.
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Privatisation of street food markets in London: curating markets and place.
Berwick Street Market, Soho. Photo credit: Vlondons
In a recent edition of The Guardian, there was a story about the privatisation of Berwick street Market, an historic London market in the heart of Soho. Stallholders are protesting for the Council’s decision to bring in a “commercial operator” to manage the market. Why would the Council would do that? Not only for efficiency reasons, but as a councillor mentions, the market needs to “wash its face”. Bringing in a market organiser for Berwick Street is a way of changing the look and feel of the market and the area; as a market campaigner says in the article “the reinvention of markets has got to be done in a curated way”.
This post was originally published in Researching Sociology @ LSE
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Book Review. The Creative Citizen Unbound… edited by Ian Hargreaves and John Hartley
Drawing upon the findings of a 30-month research project, The Creative Citizen Unbound: How Social Media and DIY Culture Contribute to Democracy, Communities and the Creative Economy, edited by Ian Hargreaves and John Hartley, explores the potential of civic-minded individuals to participate in ‘creative citizenship’ by utilising social media and engaging with the creative economy. Although she would have welcomed more detailed discussion of the book’s guiding concepts, Paz Concha recommends its wealth of case studies and examples to academics and practitioners looking to enhance their research impact or build strategies for knowledge exchange.
This post was originally published in the LSE Review of Books Blog.
Book Review. Be Creative: Making A Living in the New Culture Industries by Angela McRobbie
In Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries, Angela McRobbie addresses how the encouragement to foster one’s ‘creativity’ as a set of capacities or skills necessary for professional success is entwined with the rise in freelance, temporary and low-paid labour. Drawing upon McRobbie’s extensive contributions to the field of cultural and creative industries, this book underscores the contemporary link between creative work and precarity, but also offers hope for future change, writes Paz Concha.
This post was originally published in the LSE Review of Books Blog.
Foodies: entre el gourmet, el boutique y el pop up.
Últimamente revisando revistas de tendencias, lanzamiento de nuevos programas de TV y eventos relacionados con comida en Chile he observado la proliferación del uso de palabras como gourmet, boutique o pop up para describir y diferenciar un tipo de experiencia relacionado con la comida.
La propaganda a estos productos o experiencias exclusivos, desde el punto de vista del lenguaje, invita a pensar en una oferta de actividades culturales que necesita excluir a algunos para poder legitimarse dentro de un grupo de elite.
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From pain to pleasure, fieldwork so far
I’m very much enjoying the fieldwork stage of my research. I’ve been collecting data and I try to read frequently about how to improve my performance as a researcher. The other day I found a post about fitting in and “the task of transforming ourselves into the kind of person we need to be in order to conduct successful fieldwork”. That means to adapt to new situations, get to know people, fit in their conversations and be little by little part of their everyday life. This is what I’ve learned so far.
Micro-stories of street food in London
It’s been a while since my last post. For the past 4 months I’ve been doing fieldwork for my research focussed on the configuration of the street food scene in London as an urban cultural assemblage (I’ll get into that in another post).
My fieldwork is mainly ethnographic; I’ve been doing participant observation; working with market organizers (office work and at the marketplace) and food traders (from pub residencies to setting up the stall, van, cooking and serving food).
Parks and the city
There’s an incredible amount of green areas in London. Since I came here I’ve been interesting in visiting as many parks as possible; for me this is an interesting way to see how different cities coexist within a major city such as London.