The Unfamiliar

A Letter from the Editor

Inna Zlatimirova Yaneva-Toraman — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Meaning-Making at a Japanese Indigo Plantation

Christine Wu — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The Role of the Technology in the Making of a Thesis Whisperer

Jodie-Lee Trembath, Inger Mewburn — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This paper explores the notion of the human-technology hybrid, seeking to understand how ‘smart’ technologies are enmeshed with humans in their fleshier forms to assemble different identities from moment to moment. One participant - the Director of Research Training (DRT) at a high-ranking research-intensive university - was shadowed as she interacted with the human and non-human actants within her network to produce and sustain various identities. The goal of the study was to illuminate aspects of the DRT’s working day that are not accounted for in her job description or performance plan, but are crucial to her success in her role; that is to say, the ‘invisible work’ that she undertakes, and the ways in which she enrolls, translates and works with or against various technologies - and they, her.

In exploring three forms of invisible work – a) where the employee is visible but the work is invisible, b) where the employee is invisible but the work is visible, and c) where both work and employee are invisible – we argue that it is critical for university administrators to understand the invisible work that human/smart technology hybrids are doing within academic environments in order to best manage their rapidly changing workforces and the organizational climates in which they work.

'La Escocesa': A fabric of Images

Placido Munoz Moran — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The banning of the practice of graffiti in public space since the approval of the civic regulation in 2006 has restricted the production of graffiti artworks in Barcelona. It transformed and coerced the local graffiti and street art scene towards new forms of production in the city, which are the central focus of this article. ‘La Escocesa: A factory of images’, is based on my dialogues with the resident graffiti artists of the art centre ‘La Escocesa’ in ‘Poble Nou’. Some of these artists participated in both the creation of the graffiti scene in the 90s and the development of this practice in the city. Today they are recognized artistic figures of the local and international graffiti scene. I shared with some of these graffiti artists in the art centre some of my fieldwork experiences in connection with other local artists and representatives of the local council. In addition, I also opened up dialogues with them using anthropological examples about art and artists, the city and the space. The following section contains part of the conversations, reflexions and debates that we had.

To My City: Urbanisation and industrialisation in contemporary China

Shuhua Chen — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Reflecting the Refuge Crisis: On the object of high-visibility reflection vests in humanitarian refugee corridors to the European Union

Ignacio Fradejas-García — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000