A new online Seminar Series in the Anthropology of Artists & Artisans, 2024–2025
Maison des Sciences de l’Homme–Université Clermont Auvergne,
In collaboration with the Royal Anthropological Institute
Organisers:
Dr Raphaël Blanchier &
Prof Trevor Marchand
This seminar series in anthropology explores the situated practices of ‘artistry at work’ and, more broadly, the working lives and career trajectories of artists and artisans plying their trades in regions around the globe. The scope of the series also encompasses studies of occupations not conventionally categorised as “artistic” but that nevertheless foster creativity among (some) practitioners and even accommodate the development of “artist” identities.
More specifically, the series asks:
How might ‘artistry at work’ be defined in the twenty-first century? In what culturally diverse ways is artistry expressed, practised and culturally valued or denigrated? Who are the individuals and communities that pursue and engage in it? And, why? What hopes do they invest in their creative vocations, and what challenges do they confront in realising their ambitions? What ramifications are (existing or looming) funding cuts to the arts having on artisans' sense of self-worth, employment prospects and future planning? How do they evaluate the impact of current and forthcoming transformations – social, political, environmental, technological – on their modes of production and their livelihoods, and how are they preparing for it? How do artists, artisans and those employed in other creative occupations make sense of their professional experiences, and how do they (and we, as anthropologists) generate narratives about their working lives?
With these guiding questions in mind, the aims of the series are to illuminate the tensions as well as the productive synergies that animate ties between hope and hardship, and to elucidate individual strategies and struggles to self-actualisation within ever-changing, and often precarious, creative fields of work.
Some practicalities: The seminars will be hosted by the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (MSH, at UCA) in collaboration with the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI). The seminars will be held online, and in English, in order to reach as wide and diverse an audience as possible. We anticipate attendance by anthropologists, scholars of craft and the performing arts, practicing artisans and interested others.
The eight seminars will be held (online) from October to May at 17.00–19.00hrs CET / 16.00–18.00hrs UK on the first Tuesday of each month (except for the month of March 2025, when we have two seminars scheduled [Tues. 04 March and Monday 24 March] and none in April). The seminars will be two-hours long, structured as follows: 5-minute introduction of our guest speaker & discussant; 40-minute talk; 15-minute comments from the designated discussant, and 60 minutes for "open floor" Q&A.
PROGRAMME
Tuesday, 01 October 2024
Speaker: Alice Doublier-Akakpo, CNRS, Chine, Corée Japon (UMR 8173)
Title: Cultivating the most beautiful kôji: the aesthetics of brewing soy-sauce in twenty-first century Japan
Invited Discussant: Iza Kavedžija, Associate Professor of Medical Anthropology, University of Cambridge
More here
Tuesday, 05 November 2024
Speaker: Chloé Paberz, INALCO, Institut Français de Recherche sur l'Asie de l'Est
Title: Drawing: Cultivating freedom in South Korea’s highly standardised creative industries
Invited Discussant: Jenn Law, social anthropologist & artist
More here
Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Speaker: Alice Aterianus-Owanga, Université de Neuchâtel
Title: The art of 'vitesse': ntcham music, banditry, and the digital fabric of a pirate industry
Invited Discussant: Jamila Dorner, SOAS
More here
Tuesday, 07 January 2025
Speaker: Geoffrey Gowlland, University of Geneva
Title: Crafting Indigeneity in Taiwan
Invited Discussant: Michele Avis Feder-Nadoff, artist & anthropologist
More here
Tuesday, 04 February 2025
Speaker: Sónia Mota Ribeiro, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
Title: Clay Figuration in Barcelos, Portugal: Crafting futures by re-imagining the past
Invited Discussant: Stephanie Bunn, University of St Andrews
More here
Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Speaker: Dorothee Hemme, anthropologist & entrepreneur, Göttingen
Title: On the Art of Being a Female Entrepreneur in the Skilled Trades
Invited Discussant: Myriem Naji, University College London
More here
Monday, 24 March 2025
Speaker: Julien Debonneville, Haute École Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale
Title: “Becoming a Dancer, Becoming Mobile”: Navigating mobility regimes in the field of European contemporary dance
Invited Discussant: Robert Simpkins, SOAS & Sainsbury Institute
More here
Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Speaker: Hélène Neveu-Kringelbach, University College London
Title: West African Performers and the Art of Navigating Interrupted Mobilities
Invited Discussant: tbc
More here