Sociology and Social Policy Seminar Series (9 October 2019)
Date | Wednesday 9 October 2019 |
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Time | 3:10pm - 4:10pm |
Where | University of Waikato - K.G.11. |
Presenter | Dr Gemma Piercy-Cameron (Lecturer, Sociology & Social Policy) and Fungai Mhlanga, PhD Candidate (School of Social Sciences) |
Contact | Rachel Gosnell-Maddock |
Contact email | rachel.gosnell-maddock@waikato.ac.nz |
Admission Cost | Free |
Craft pedagogies: Service workers as teachers presented by Dr Gemma Piercy-Cameron (Lecturer, Sociology & Social Policy)
Food pedagogies are embodied, incidental and/or purposeful learning experiences grounded in our in everyday life (consumption and eating practices). In this paper, I weave together findings from my own ethnographic research in cafés and coffee roasteries with a study on bartenders, barbers, butchers and whiskey distillers (Ocejo, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to explore the informal but purposeful teaching that may occur between service workers in elite craft contexts and the customers they serve through storytelling.
These sites are locations that cross between food and craft-based aesthetics. Hence, I argue that more than just food pedagogy is occurring in these workspaces. Workers ‘craft’ themselves, their products and may ‘craft’ their customers bodies and tastes through storytelling. Using this notion of craft pedagogy I ask: in what ways is craft pedagogy complementary but also different to food pedagogy?
Data gathering: Key methods and lessons from Hamilton community garden research presented by Fungai Mhlanga (PhD Candidate, School of Social Sciences)
The Hamilton community gardens research is a qualitative mixed method study whose aims are to investigate the social benefits of community gardens in Hamilton city. Using social capital, food activism and food regimes theories as its theoretical frameworks the study explores the operations of community gardens as places of food production, social activity and recreational spaces. Data collection completed at the garden sites across the city comprised Key informant interviews, focus groups and observation sessions. Participants ranged from managers and coordinators of garden sites and the actual gardeners engaged in planting and looking after the crops. Other stakeholders such as local authority personnel and NGOs were included in the data collection. This presentation covers my experiences with the various methods of data collection and some key lessons learnt as well as discussing some emerging themes from the preliminary data analysis.