The Uncommon Life Of Common Objects

"In The Uncommon Life of Common Objects, Akiko Busch devotes a chapter each to twelve objects, looking at the reasons these items took the forms they did and discussing how everyday things acquire their significance through daily human experience."--Jacket.

There is broad acceptance across the Humanities and Social Sciences that our deliberations on the social need to take place through attention to practice, to object-mediated relations, to non-human agency and to the affective dimensions of human sociality. This Companion focuses on the objects and materials found at centre stage, and asks: what matters about objects? Objects and Materials explores the field, providing succinct summary accounts of contemporary scholarship, along with a wealth of new research investigating the capacity of objects to shape, unsettle and exceed expectations. Original chapters from over forty international, interdisciplinary contributors address an array of objects and materials to ask what the terms of collaborations with objects and materials are, and to consider how these collaborations become integral to our understandings of the complex, relational dynamics that fashion social worlds. Objects and Materials will be of interest to students and scholars across the social sciences and humanities, including in sociology, social theory, science and technology studies, history, anthropology, archaeology, gender studies, women’s studies, geography, cultural studies, politics and international relations, and philosophy.

Limited Language is a web-platform, co-founded in 2005 by Colin Davies (University of Wolverhampton) and Monika Parrinder (Royal College of Art, London), for generating writing and discussion about the design process. Over the last four years the site has collected a series of essays and commentary dealing with the key issues which effect and shape visual communication today. limited language: rewriting design, examines the relationship between traditional printed formats (the book) and new digital ones (blogging). Hybrid media forms are already transforming design. How might they be used to rethink design writing? limited language: rewriting design creates an alternative and innovative "writing space" – the reflection and distance which can be offered only by a book. Each of its sub-sections comprises an article from the website, followed by a reflection/response to the topic by the responses raised on limitedlanguage.org, while rich visual imagery in colour illustrates each article/response. "This is a rare book about design that embraces ideas with as much enthusiasm as objects. It illustrates its premise by showing feedback culture in action. If you find yourself wanting to join in the dialogue with thoughts of your own – and you will – their website is ready and waiting." – Rick Poynor www.limitedlanguage.org

Building upon her previous work on everyday aesthetics, Yuriko Saito argues in this book that the aesthetic and ethical concerns are intimately connected in our everyday life. Specifically, she shows how aesthetic experience embodies a care relationship with the world and how the ethical relationship with others, whether humans, non-human creatures, environments, or artifacts, is guided by aesthetic sensibility and manifested through aesthetic means. Weaving together insights gained from philosophy, art, design, and medicine, as well as artistic and cultural practices of Japan, she illuminates the aesthetic dimensions of various forms of care in our management of everyday life. Emphasis is placed on the experience of interacting with others including objects, a departure from the prevailing mode of aesthetic inquiry that is oriented toward judgment-making from a spectator's point of view. Saito shows that when everyday activities, ranging from having a conversation and performing a care act to engaging in self-care and mending an object, are ethically grounded and aesthetically informed and guided, our experiences lead to a good life.

For designers, writing and research skills are more necessary than ever before, from the basic business compositions to critical writing. In this competitive climate, designers are routinely called upon to make words about the images and designs they create for clients. Writing about design is not just "trade" writing, but should be accessible to everyone with an interest in design. This book is a complete, introductory guide to various forms of research and writing in design—and how they explain visuals and can be visualized. These pages address communication on various levels and to all audiences: - Designers to Designers - Designers to Clients - Designers to the Design-literate - Designers to the Design-agnostic Being able to express the issues and concerns of the design practice demands facts, data, and research. With Writing and Research for Graphic Designers, you’ll learn how to turn information into a valuable asset— one of the key talents of the design researcher.

From a late-night snack to a cold beer, there’s nothing that whets the appetite quite like the suctioning sound of a refrigerator being opened. In the early 1930s fewer than ten percent of US households had a mechanical refrigerator, but today they are nearly universal, the primary means by which we keep our food and drink fresh. Yet, for as ubiquitous as refrigerators are, most of us take them for granted, letting them blend into the background of our kitchens, basements, garages, and all the other places where they seem so perfectly convenient. In this book, Helen Peavitt amplifies the hum of the refrigerator in technological history, showing us just how it became such an essential appliance. Peavitt takes us to the early closets, cabinets, and boxes into which we first started packing ice and the various things we were trying to keep cool. From there she charts the development of mechanical and chemical technologies that have led to modern-day refrigeration on both industrial and domestic scales, showing how these technologies have created a completely new method of preserving and transporting perishable goods, having a profound impact on society from the nineteenth century and on. She explores the ways the marketing of refrigerators have expressed and influenced our notions of domestic life, and she looks at how refrigeration has altered the agriculture and food industries as well as our own appetites. Strikingly illustrated, this book offers an informative and entertaining history of an object that has radically changed—in a little over one hundred years—one of the most important things we do: eat.

An innovative textbook that presents a novel and compelling examination of family communication studies Family Communication as… Exploring Metaphors for Family Communication presents a series of metaphors through which students explore the nuances and complexities of family interaction. With a unique approach to the foundational theories and real-world practices of family communication, this easily accessible textbook helps students develop a clear understanding of what family communication is and what it can be. Contributions by both prominent and newer scholars theorize about family communication, offer new perspectives, challenge long-held assumptions, and describe original research to provide students with an up-to-date representation of the leading thinking in the field. Each concise chapter focuses on a specific element of family life, engaging key metaphors to stimulate classroom discussion about family in contexts ranging from ritual and embodiment to estrangement and heteronormativity. Throughout the text, students examine family metaphorically—as memory, as social identity, as estrangement, as loss, as resilience, as raced, and more. Presents a metaphorical examination of creating, materializing, contextualizing, politicizing, and complicating family communication Offers an innovative alternative to standard textbooks on the subject Features a thorough introduction advocating for the use of metaphors in teaching Discusses the key topics and theoretical approaches that have defined the field Includes detailed references, additional readings, and an instructor’s companion website Family Communication as… Exploring Metaphors for Family Communication is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in courses including family communication, family studies, interpersonal communication, relational communication, and communication theory. It is also a highly useful resource for scholars in fields such as media studies, psychology, sociology, social work, counseling, and public health.

This second edition textbook provides invaluable guidance on carrying out qualitative research in psychology using methods both individually and in combination. Suitable for researchers at all stages of their development, the book provides a go-to resource for students who are just starting out, as well as for experienced qualitative researchers planning to carry out research pluralistically. Key features include: •A new chapter on Thematic Analysis •Updated chapters on four other widely used qualitative method – grounded theory, interpretative phenomenological analysis, discourse analysis and narrative analysis •Discussions of the theoretical foundations of qualitative methods employed singly and pluralistically •Consideration of ethical and quality issues pertinent to different methods when used separately and in conjunction •Inclusion of the use of visual and other non-textual data •Problem-based questions •Reflections on practice from experienced researchers The book has been updated throughout to reflect current developments in, and research examples from, the full breadth of the discipline, including from health, social, counselling, and sports and exercise psychology. Studies carried out as part of both academic and professional practice are included, alongside discussion of ways in which researchers from both settings can work together effectively. “This book opens new horizons for innovation, and creates new avenues to explore the complexity of human experience.” —Dr Amy Burton, Senior Lecturer in Qualitative Research Methods, Staffordshire University, UK “Frost invites advanced students to move from broad conceptual understandings towards a nuanced appreciation of the potential of qualitative methods in psychology.” —Neil Cooper, Professor of Learning and Teaching in Psychology, University of East Anglia, UK “With a crystal clear writing style, Frost enriches our understanding of the practice and experience of doing pluralistic qualitative research – an invaluable contribution.” —John McCarthy, Head of School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Ireland “Frost has delivered a highly relevant, useful, and contemporary book that will be a prized guide on any qualitative journey.” —Brett Smith, Director of Research, Department of Psychology, Durham University, UK “Nollaig Frost has been instrumental to the advancement of a pluralistic perspective in qualitative psychology. This keenly awaited second edition of her book does not disappoint.” —Carla Willig, bestselling author of Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology Nollaig Frost is Adjunct Professor at the School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Ireland; Visiting Lecturer at City, University of London, UK; and Visiting Researcher at Middlesex University, UK. She teaches and supervises qualitative research to students at all levels and has led the Pluralism in Qualitative Research (PQR) project since its inception in 2006.