The case for an oral architecture: carpentry and communal assembly among the Dong of Southwest China

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Blundell Jones ◽  
Derong Kong

Chinese architecture was for a long time ignored because it was not produced by architects and because it did not follow Western classical expectations, and vernacular architecture was little discussed until the 1960s, and only recently embraced by its own encyclopaedia. Yet the division of labour between drawing architect and practical builder was never wholly advantageous or inevitable, for specialisation of roles can lead to differentiation, inequality, and division, as well as constructional efficiency. Only in the last century has the division between office work and construction site become so complete, resulting in losses as well as gains. Most obviously it has removed design from making, the person with the drawing pen no longer obliged to experience the materials in their weight and texture, or to discover by handling them the best ways to work them. The designer who has never picked up a brick or wielded a chisel can possess little sensibility for the material, but as long as their duties are fulfilled on paper with apparent competence, the process is carried through. On the receiving end, bricklayer or carpenter must produce what drawings demand even when good sense seems lacking, so they carry the work through grumpily without conviction instead of participating in the creative process. This paper looks at oral architecture in the Dong culture, and the way in which buildings have traditionally been produced by carpenters along with the local community, accompanied by shared rituals which reinforce their significance.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7853
Author(s):  
Xiubai Li ◽  
Jinok Susanna Kim ◽  
Timothy J. Lee

The importance of community attitude and participation for the success and sustainability of cultural festivals has been steadily increasing in recent years. The Chuncheon Puppet Festival (CPF) is an international festival that has been held every year since 1989 in Chuncheon, Korea. The festival has several distinctive characteristics as a sustainable event because: (a) it maintains its single genre of puppet performances based on modern cultural art; (b) it is well-established as the festival for the local residents of Chuncheon City and is planned by local community residents and local small companies, not by government agencies or global large entrepreneurs; (c) it helps children to have an interesting cultural experience in the local environment; and (d) it is regularly hosted in August, an off-season for festivals in Korea that was chosen by residents as it is a school holiday season. However, there is still room for improvement to secure its place as a successful sustainable festival. The following might be considered: (i) increased exchange of human resources among the festival executive members, community groups, and the public staff in Chuncheon City; (ii) local residents should maintain full control of the festival; and (iii) a local cultural trust should be established by cultural art professionals, local resident organizations, puppet show professionals, and public agency staff. The CPF is a typical example of a successful sustainable festival with proactive and supportive community participation and a large number of volunteers that help to increase local competitiveness and sustainable local development. This case report delivers insightful lessons and messages to guide what needs to be preconditioned for local cultural festivals to be sustainable and successful for a long time in many destinations, where they can contribute as efficient catalysts for regional tourism development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 344-361
Author(s):  
Yves Gambier

The landscape in translation and interpreting is changing deeply and rapidly. For a long time, but not necessarily everywhere, translation was denied as a need (except for the political and religious powers), as effort (translation being defined as a kind of mechanical work, as substitution of words), and as a profession (translators embodying a subaltern position). Technology is bringing in certain changes in attitudes and perceptions with regards international, multilingual and multimodal communications. This article tries to define the changes and their consequences in the labelling and characterisation of the different practices. It is organised in five sections: first, we recall that translation and interpreting are only one option in international relations; then, we explain the different denials of translation in the past (or the refusal to recognize the different values of translation). In the third section, we consider how and to what extent technology is transforming today practices and markets. The ongoing changes do not boil solely to developments in Machine Translation (which started in the 1960s): community, crowdsourced/collaborative translation and volunteer translation encompass different practices. In many cases, users provide their own translations, with or without formal qualifications in translation. The evolution is not only technical but also economic and social. In addition, the fragmentation and the diversity of practices do have an impact on a multi-faceted market. In the fourth section, we emphasize that there are nowadays different concepts of translation and competitive paradigms in Translation Studies. Finally, we tackle the organisational challenge of the field, since the institutionalisation of translation and Translation Studies cannot remain the same as when there was a formal consensus on the concept of translation.


Author(s):  
Jelena Dobbels

The turn of the twentieth century was a tuming point for the Belgian construction sector.The emergence of general contractors enacted a re-examination of job responsibilitiesamong general contractors, architects and engineers. This paper analyses how Belgiangeneral contractors claimed their new position as organisers and executors ofconstruction, and how they interacted with other construction actors. The analysis showsit took a long time to capture the gradual shift of tasks legally, started in the 1890s yetonly finalized by the 1960s. This slow legislative adaptation gave rise to many conflictson job responsibilities, yet also collaborative actions were undertaken. This allows us toconclude that general contractors, architects and engineers mainly engaged in conversationwith each other in order to identify and outline their changing functions andresponsibilities.


Author(s):  
Catherine Forbes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of vernacular architecture and traditional knowledge to building resilience in Nepal and the impact of modernisation on that resilience and architectural diversity. Design/methodology/approach Using an action research approach, including field observations and discussions with local community members, artisans, architects, engineers and other international experts, the study examines the resilience of traditional building typologies to natural hazards in Nepal, including earthquake; the changes that have occurred over time leading to the failure and/or rejection of traditional construction; and a review of post-earthquake reconstruction options, both traditional and modern. Findings Although traditional approaches have been cyclically tested over time, this study found that changes in building materials, technologies, knowledge and skills, access to resources, maintenance practices, urban environments and societal aspirations have all contributed to the popular rejection of vernacular architecture following the earthquakes. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to traditional timber and masonry construction in the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding mountain areas. Practical implications To improve resilience the study identifies the need for capacity building in both traditional and modern construction technologies; adoption of approaches that use local materials, knowledge and skills, whilst addressing local timber shortages and access issues; a transparent construction certification system; good drainage; and regular maintenance. Originality/value The study critically evaluates the impact of technological, environmental, social and economic changes over time on the resilience of vernacular housing in Nepal.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
I Gede Dede Meirianta ◽  
I Nyoman Widya Paramadhyaksa ◽  
I Ketut Mudra

Nusa Penida is one of the islands in Klungkung Regency, Bali, which is currently growing rapidly. This can be seen from the increasing number of tourists every year. Based on the data of the number of people who visited Nusa Penida, it could be seen to have an increase in the need to provide adequate facilities of the port. Banjar Nyuh Port is one of the ports in Nusa Penida which currently needs to be redesigned in order to facilitate sea transportation activities. Re-design is a process of replanning a facility in an effort to improve the functions that are contained and create better conditions than before. The Redesign of the Banjar Nyuh Port aim to optimize the port function through solving the problems encountered using innovative thinking in redesigning. In the process of redesign based on a theme as the basis, the theme used must be in accordance with the context of the problems, location, culture and social of the local community so that the appropriate theme is to apply the Neo Vernacular Architecture theme to the design. The applica-tion of Neo Vernacular Theme can display the traditional impression of Balinese Architecture combined with the value of modern architecture so as to create a design that contains cultural traditions and design innovation in it. Index Terms— redesign, port, neo vernacular, nusa penida.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7452
Author(s):  
Maurizio Carta ◽  
Daniele Ronsivalle ◽  
Barbara Lino

When Covid-19 arrived in Europe from the far East, the media and experts in economics and social sciences noticed that it was the expected discontinuity in the socio-economic development process. Really, the current phase has spread since the 1960s, when the application of econometric worldwide-spread development model was going to produce social inequalities, and consumption of physical, social, and cultural resources. Some places in Italy, far from the erosive and urban context and erosive metropolitan areas, are currently isolated seeds of a new cycle of life, because of the local community identity and the strong link between human, cultural, and natural components are currently working together towards a new development model. Starting from a 20-year research about Local Cultural Systems in Sicily, the research group has defined and tested the cultural dimension of development, and affirmed that the transition to a culture-based growth, as defined by UNESCO, should be the solution for overcoming the erosive Anthropocene era. In western Sicily, the Belice Valley is working on cultural transition thanks to relationships between cultural heritage, identity, and settlement network, that we have designed as a Territorial Archipelago. The research demonstrates that local communities will innovate if they rethink the development model and reshape spatial patterns and economic networks focusing on the creativity-driven vision.


2012 ◽  
Vol 518-523 ◽  
pp. 4455-4460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teow Ngak Ng ◽  
Hsien Te Lin

Minangkabau architecture is one of the most identical vernacular architectures in Austronesian world. This research aims to compare and analyze the microclimate of two Minangkabau vernacular houses in villages of Balimbing of Bukittinggi, Sumatra, Indonesia. One of them is covered with palm-sheath roof, and the other is covered with zinc roof. After investigation and a series of measuring assessment, we discover that as human residence, the interior environment of the house with the palm-roof is more comfortable than the zinc-roofed house. Due to a more successful prevention and reduction to high temperature and humidity of the inner space, the palm-roof is recognized as the better housing model to be pursued and using natural material as the efficient resource for the local community.


2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucie Vágnerová

How can historians of electronic music address the factory labour of the global underclass of women building electronics used in sound technologies? How can we speak to the repetitive work of women who are racially and sexually stereotyped as having ‘nimble fingers’, being ‘detail oriented’ and ‘obedient’? Although women workers in electronics assembly are already de facto entangled in contemporary sound production, scholars have yet to enfold their lives and labour into histories of electronic music. I situate electronic sound technologies since the 1960s in the contexts of the global division of labour and the intimate disciplining of women’s bodies, and investigate the discursive fallout of transnational subcontracting in the electronics industry. I argue that rethinking the category ‘women in electronic music’ is a necessary step for sound studies and musicology, and I call for a new disciplinary understanding of electronic sound and audio as fundamentally neo-colonial.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Maartje Janse ◽  
Anne-Lot Hoek

This publication emerges from a process of co-creation in which historian Maartje Janse and research journalist Anne-Lot Hoek challenge the dominant national narrative about the colonial experience in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). In combining journalistic and academic writing with musical performance by musician Ernst Jansz they amplify the critical voices that have spoken out against colonial injustice and that have long been ignored in public and academic debate. Even though it is often suggested that the mindset of people in the past prevented them from seeing what was wrong with things we now find highly problematic, they argue that there was indeed a tradition of colonial criticism in the Netherlands, one that included the voices of many ‘forgotten critics’ whose lives and criticism are the subject of this publication. The voices however were for a long time overlooked by Dutch historians. The publication is organized around the biographies of several critics (whose lives Janse and Hoek have published on before), the historical debate afterwards and includes reflective videos and texts on the process of co-creation.Maartje Janse started the process by tracing the life history of an outspoken nineteenth-century critic of the colonial system in the Dutch East Indies, Willem Bosch. The authors argue that it was not self-evident how criticism of colonial injustices should be voiced and that Bosch experimented with different methods, including organizing one of the first Dutch pressure groups.The story of Willem Bosch inspired Ernst Jansz, a Dutch musician with Indo roots, to compose a song (‘De ballade van Sarina en Kromo’). It is an interpretation of an old Malaysian ‘krontjong’ song, that Jansz transformed into a protest song that reminds its listeners of protest songs of the 1960s and 1970s. Jansz, in his lyrics, adds an indigenous perspective to this project. He performed the song during the Voice4Thought festival in 2016, a gathering that aimed to reflect upon migration and mobility in current times. Filmmaker Sjoerd Sijsma made a video ‘pamplet’ in which the performance of Ernst Jansz, an interview with Maartje Janse, and historical images from the colonial period have been combined.Anne-Lot Hoek connected Willem Bosch to a series of twentieth-century anti-colonial critics such as Dutch Indies civil servant Siebe Lijftogt, Indonesian nationalists Sutan Sjahrir, Rachmad Koesoemobroto, Dutch writer Rudy Kousbroek and Indonesian activist Jeffry Pondaag. She argues that dissenting voices have been underrepresented in the post-war debates on colonialism and its legacy for decades, and that one of the main reasons is that the notion of the objective historian was not effectively problematized for a long time.http://dissentingvoices.bridginghumanities.com/


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