Podcasts
L. Lynda Harling Stalker St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada.
This podcast is intended for educational use only.
Craft production is a form of work that is often overlooked in contemporary sociology studies. In some ways this is surprising as more peripheral regions turn to it as a form of development, and the precariousness it shares with other selfemployed work. That being said, craftwork has its own unique characteristics that require the researcher to pay careful consideration. This includes relationships in the household, among the community, with consumers, and with the past (i.e. conforming to an established tradition). Because of its absence in the literature, there is little out there to guide people on how to research small-scale craftwork. In this paper, I set out to describe how I believe one should approach the study of craftworkers. I go about this by combining material culture methods with qualitative narratives. I take Schlereth's behaviourist model (1982) and incorporate it into narrative analysis as put forth by the likes of Jane Elliot (2005). This culminates in an actionist approach that situates not only the craftworker in his or her social and cultural environment, but also includes reflexive acknowledgements of the researcher's role in the research process. To illustrate this, I will bring portions of Newfoundland craftspeople's narratives collected for my doctoral dissertation, as well as my reflexive account of doing research about craftworkers.
Work cited:
Elliot, J. (2005) Using narrative in social research: qualitative and quantitative
approaches. London: Sage. Schlereth, T. (1982) Material culture studies in
America. Nashville, Tenn.: American Association for State and Local History.
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Les outils de recherche pour l'étude de la production artisanale à petite échelle sont rares, sinon inexistants. L'auteure suggère une approche pour ce type de recherche, effectuée pour sa thèse de doctorat auprès des artisans de Terre-Neuve.