SENNETT'S CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS AND OUTCOME OF
CRAFTING
In order to better understand the processes and outcomes of knowledge generated in Technocrafting, we turn to Sennett, whose conceptual framework in The Craftsman is canonical in craft research. We will first introduce the core concepts of this framework, and then demonstrate how it can be integrated with the three characteristics of Technocrafting.
Sennett emphasizes that craft practice entails "the desire to do a job well for its own sake", which he believes to denote an innate human impulse [60 p.9]. Sennett furthermore extends the concept of craft practice to signify a condition of deep engagement, rather than being bound to a particular
practice.…show more content… Localization
Localization, also referred to as focal attention, makes a matter concrete [60 p.277]. It is the skill of identifying where something of importance is happening through the analysis of sensory input. From within the cognitive sciences, Gregory Bateson and Leon Festinger assert that humans tend to focus on ‘cognitive dissonances’, i.e. difficulties and contradictions. Festinger argued that these complicated experiences could be traced directly to animal behavior, consisting of the capacity to attend to a here or this, as parallel processing in the brain activates different neural circuits to establish attention. When practicing a craft, this thinking locates where a material, a practice, or a problem is significant [60 p.278]. The time-consuming and laborious process of a crafters skill development leads to a state of attunement to the qualities of given material, and allows the practitioner to access what Michael…show more content… As an example, Frankjaer describes how, when creating the Bamboo Whisper, the project found its shape step-by-step within a process of working through the senses. For example, the ability of the bonnet to “talk back”, became apparent only when testing revealed an unintended delay in the code, creating this unanticipated effect [27].
Questioning
The act of questioning reflects on the qualities of the matter at hand [60 p.277]. It arises out of the experience of curiosity, where resolution and decision is suspended in order to probe. The process follows a time-based rhythm, where action leads to suspension while the results are questioned. Upon analysis the action resumes, now calibrated to incorporate the new knowledge. This rhythm of action-rest/question-action marks the development of complex hand skills. In contrast, mere mechanical activity, without the development of technique, is simply movement
[60 p.279]. Raymond Tallis proposes the perceptive and manipulative abilities of the human hand to be at the core of the evolution of human consciousness, as the hand is the
"instrument of transcendence required to bring us out of nature sufficiently to manipulate it beyond the kind