'I like working with my hands': performative and embodied nostalgia among post-industrial blacksmiths.
Using participant observation and interview data, I analyse social processes that surround the craft of blacksmithing and its role in post-industrial capitalist society. This inquiry explicates the role of visual experiences and performances of embodied nostalgia in motivating the embrace of histori...
| Publicado en: | Visual Studies Vol. 38; no. 3/4; pp. 457 - 473 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
2023
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=171998066&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 171998066 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 1472586X J6I jtl: Visual Studies issn: 1472586X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2023 vid: 38 iid: 3/4 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 171998066 10.1080/1472586X.2021.1944294 ppf: 457 ppct: 16 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 171998066 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 171998066 tig: atl: 'I like working with my hands': performative and embodied nostalgia among post-industrial blacksmiths. aug: au: Gibson, Christopher W. ab: Using participant observation and interview data, I analyse social processes that surround the craft of blacksmithing and its role in post-industrial capitalist society. This inquiry explicates the role of visual experiences and performances of embodied nostalgia in motivating the embrace of historic craftwork. I present visual documentation alongside qualitative data to illustrate the visual features of embodied nostalgia and document the symbolic stage upon which the modern blacksmith identity is reinforced. Blacksmithing as a profession has been deoccupationalized while conversely evolving into a richly social craft, largely driven by nostalgia and performance. Blacksmithing is physically demanding, time-consuming, costly, and once represented a hard day's labour; this study offers an examination of why it became an activity people seek out as a weekend hobby. I find that within the community of hobbyist blacksmiths, a prime motivation is the drive to experience and perform embodied nostalgia for observers, either physically present or for a materially and temporally disembodied gaze of online viewers. The performance of embodied nostalgia is predicated on a romanticised – and mildly subversive – invocation of preindustrial social relations and a symbolic temporary seizure of one's means of production. Ultimately, this study highlights the symbolic meanings expressed in the actions of the post-industrial blacksmithing community, while underscoring an informative case of occupational evolution in the 20 century. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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