Open AccessCraft, Value, And The Fetishism Of Method
Author(s) -
WAKEFORD NINA
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
ethnographic praxis in industry conference proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1559-8918
pISSN - 1559-890X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-8918.2005.tb00009.x
Subject(s) - foregrounding , craft , fetishism , temporality , value (mathematics) , sociology , epistemology , underpinning , aesthetics , visual arts , art , computer science , philosophy , anthropology , engineering , literature , civil engineering , machine learning
In order to set the scene for the panel on methods, I will be drawing on C Wright Mills' injunction to avoid the fetishism of method. Mills urges us to think about our methods in terms of a process of craft production. I want to explore what key elements of this craft might be, beyond the usual focus on actual techniques such as interviewing or ethnographically informed data collection. Foregrounding the papers in the session, I will examine ideas of value, temporality and transformation (and perhaps even transgression).