title: Cheese Machines and Cellos:  Technical Craftsmen and Craft Technicians

authors: Wanigasekera, Gwenda Dorothy

subjects: Ethnography

abstract: The study is based on a period of ethnographic research among approximately thirty tradesmen, apprentices, supervisors and related personnel at a medium-sized precision engineering company in Hamilton, New Zealand. The company specialises in high quality niche products and machinery for the dairy, aviation and medical technology industries. Its work involves a wide variety of engineering crafts and practices. 

My aim was to better understand the work that was done there, the elements of skilled and expert practice involved in it; how these skills were learned and from whom, and what they meant to those who held them. I wanted to find out which people and what conditions and environments best enabled the acquisition of skills and a good learning experience. By way of comparison to this main group, I interviewed a smaller number of craftspeople in the wider community: a fine furniture maker, a printmaker, a ceramicist and two luthiers, all of whom worked independently. 

This ethnography is located within a wider literature on apprenticeship, skill and education, and about what it means to be a “maker of things” (e.g. Beeby 1992; Biesta 2006; De Munck, Kaplan and Soly 2007; Dormer 1994, 1997; Keep 2007, 2009; Sennett 2008). I also draw on ethnographic discussions by other scholars who have described skilled practices and ways of learning in diverse social and cultural contexts (e.g. Coy 1989; Crawford 2009; Eraut 2001, 2002; Keller and Keller 1996; Lave 1988, 2011; Marchand 2003, 2010).

My ethnographic data provides a rich description of a contemporary industrial workplace where learning involves both practical and theoretical knowledge and creative ability. The findings demonstrate that successful learning on the shop floor (and in the other examples given) is the result of a complex amalgam of disparate elements. The learning and teaching in these workplaces are sometimes structured and sometimes serendipitous. They are embedded in and arise from the processes of creativity, analysis, manufacture and reflection. They involve not only what takes place at the worksites but also the qualities and dispositions and histories of learning, both formal and informal, that the participants bring to their work. 

The development of skill and the acquisition of knowledge are shown to be complex and deeply personal and individual phenomena that are best nurtured in environments rich in materials, opportunity and experience, and in cooperation with interested, capable and expert “others”. This complexity is not easily represented in or catered for by current forms of educational assessment in New Zealand. 

A further and largely unexpected dimension of the study was my growing awareness of my own apprenticeship as a practitioner of ethnography, including my location as a participant observer in the actual field of study. This experience invariably led me to reflect further on the processes of apprenticeship, education and learning.

text: Cheese Machines and Cellos:  Technical Craftsmen and Craft Technicians The study is based on a period of ethnographic research among approximately thirty tradesmen, apprentices, supervisors and related personnel at a medium-sized precision engineering company in Hamilton, New Zealand. The company specialises in high quality niche products and machinery for the dairy, aviation and medical technology industries. Its work involves a wide variety of engineering crafts and practices. 

My aim was to better understand the work that was done there, the elements of skilled and expert practice involved in it; how these skills were learned and from whom, and what they meant to those who held them. I wanted to find out which people and what conditions and environments best enabled the acquisition of skills and a good learning experience. By way of comparison to this main group, I interviewed a smaller number of craftspeople in the wider community: a fine furniture maker, a printmaker, a ceramicist and two luthiers, all of whom worked independently. 

This ethnography is located within a wider literature on apprenticeship, skill and education, and about what it means to be a “maker of things” (e.g. Beeby 1992; Biesta 2006; De Munck, Kaplan and Soly 2007; Dormer 1994, 1997; Keep 2007, 2009; Sennett 2008). I also draw on ethnographic discussions by other scholars who have described skilled practices and ways of learning in diverse social and cultural contexts (e.g. Coy 1989; Crawford 2009; Eraut 2001, 2002; Keller and Keller 1996; Lave 1988, 2011; Marchand 2003, 2010).

My ethnographic data provides a rich description of a contemporary industrial workplace where learning involves both practical and theoretical knowledge and creative ability. The findings demonstrate that successful learning on the shop floor (and in the other examples given) is the result of a complex amalgam of disparate elements. The learning and teaching in these workplaces are sometimes structured and sometimes serendipitous. They are embedded in and arise from the processes of creativity, analysis, manufacture and reflection. They involve not only what takes place at the worksites but also the qualities and dispositions and histories of learning, both formal and informal, that the participants bring to their work. 

The development of skill and the acquisition of knowledge are shown to be complex and deeply personal and individual phenomena that are best nurtured in environments rich in materials, opportunity and experience, and in cooperation with interested, capable and expert “others”. This complexity is not easily represented in or catered for by current forms of educational assessment in New Zealand. 

A further and largely unexpected dimension of the study was my growing awareness of my own apprenticeship as a practitioner of ethnography, including my location as a participant observer in the actual field of study. This experience invariably led me to reflect further on the processes of apprenticeship, education and learning.

year: 2013

title: The effect of powder sintering method on the densification and microstructure of pewter alloys

authors: Ariff, Tasnim Firdaus Binti Mohamed

subjects: microwave sintering

abstract: Pewter alloys made from tin, copper and antimony powders were sintered using microwave and conventional vacuum sintering. Three different compositions of the pewter alloy were used; 91Sn6Cu3Sb, 94Sn4Cu2Sb and 97Sn2Cu1Sb. The effect of densification and microstructure of the pewter alloys from varying sintering time and sintering mode were examined and compared. Samples were compacted at 40kN and sintered at 220°C. Samples in the conventional furnace were sintered 60 minutes and 120 minutes, while samples in the microwave furnace were sintered for 15 and 30 minutes. Samples sintered at longer sintering times resulted in higher density for both sintering methods. Microwave sintering produced samples with slightly smaller grain size than the conventionally sintered samples resulting in a better densification. There were no new phases formed from the sintering of pewter alloy.

text: The effect of powder sintering method on the densification and microstructure of pewter alloys Pewter alloys made from tin, copper and antimony powders were sintered using microwave and conventional vacuum sintering. Three different compositions of the pewter alloy were used; 91Sn6Cu3Sb, 94Sn4Cu2Sb and 97Sn2Cu1Sb. The effect of densification and microstructure of the pewter alloys from varying sintering time and sintering mode were examined and compared. Samples were compacted at 40kN and sintered at 220°C. Samples in the conventional furnace were sintered 60 minutes and 120 minutes, while samples in the microwave furnace were sintered for 15 and 30 minutes. Samples sintered at longer sintering times resulted in higher density for both sintering methods. Microwave sintering produced samples with slightly smaller grain size than the conventionally sintered samples resulting in a better densification. There were no new phases formed from the sintering of pewter alloy.

year: 2009

title: Indigenising the screen: Screenplay and critical analysis for The Prophet

authors: Bristowe, Joseph Curtis

subjects: indiginization

abstract: This thesis tests the hypothesis that it is possible to both decolonise and indigenise the New Zealand cinema screen. Secondary research reveals how those discourses that promoted roles and expectations for Māori within the New Zealand film industry were based principally upon historical colonial ideologies imposed by various means upon the native populous, and subsequently reproduced. These discourses of race, gender and religion perpetuate negative belief systems about Māori and contribute to the reproduction of stereotypical images of Māori, such as the irrational, naive, simpleminded and warlike Māori man, or the domesticated, lustful and sexually available Māori woman. 

Research by creative practice advances the project of decolonising the New Zealand screen through the writing of a feature length screenplay based on careful research and intimate cultural knowledge, and by working according to an appropriate kaupapa Māori framework. The resulting screenplay, The Prophet, brings to life the multitude of forces that coalesced to shape the life of 19th century Māori warrior and prophet, Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki. In his death, as in his life, he remains an enigmatic figure. In written accounts and in Pākehā memories he appears as a violent rebel, mass murderer and religious fanatic. This epic re-telling focuses on the character of Te Kooti, showing him to be a man who accomplished great feats in the face of injustice, adversity and hardship. 
A critical analysis of the screenplay reveals how I adopted a unique cross cultural writing approach drawing upon both the 'classic' western narrative structure as well as kaupapa Māori pūrākau oral tradition. I argue that this approach combines effectively to materialise strong anti-colonial perspectives aimed specifically at subverting long-held and dominant colonial discourses. Such an approach to scriptwriting rejects the tradition of being defined, constructed and represented through discourses that serve to promote the interests of the Pākehā majority and, in doing so, urges the utilisation of Māori philosophies, concepts and practices in the scriptwriting/film production process.

text: Indigenising the screen: Screenplay and critical analysis for The Prophet This thesis tests the hypothesis that it is possible to both decolonise and indigenise the New Zealand cinema screen. Secondary research reveals how those discourses that promoted roles and expectations for Māori within the New Zealand film industry were based principally upon historical colonial ideologies imposed by various means upon the native populous, and subsequently reproduced. These discourses of race, gender and religion perpetuate negative belief systems about Māori and contribute to the reproduction of stereotypical images of Māori, such as the irrational, naive, simpleminded and warlike Māori man, or the domesticated, lustful and sexually available Māori woman. 

Research by creative practice advances the project of decolonising the New Zealand screen through the writing of a feature length screenplay based on careful research and intimate cultural knowledge, and by working according to an appropriate kaupapa Māori framework. The resulting screenplay, The Prophet, brings to life the multitude of forces that coalesced to shape the life of 19th century Māori warrior and prophet, Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki. In his death, as in his life, he remains an enigmatic figure. In written accounts and in Pākehā memories he appears as a violent rebel, mass murderer and religious fanatic. This epic re-telling focuses on the character of Te Kooti, showing him to be a man who accomplished great feats in the face of injustice, adversity and hardship. 
A critical analysis of the screenplay reveals how I adopted a unique cross cultural writing approach drawing upon both the 'classic' western narrative structure as well as kaupapa Māori pūrākau oral tradition. I argue that this approach combines effectively to materialise strong anti-colonial perspectives aimed specifically at subverting long-held and dominant colonial discourses. Such an approach to scriptwriting rejects the tradition of being defined, constructed and represented through discourses that serve to promote the interests of the Pākehā majority and, in doing so, urges the utilisation of Māori philosophies, concepts and practices in the scriptwriting/film production process.

year: 2009