We are keen for ‘shoppers’ to submit work that will extend the range of goods followed in our store. Three kinds of pages are featured here. Please check below for details about this work, and for resources that can help to produce it.
Three kinds of work
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1)‘article pages’: newspaper and other articles copied in full
Work by journalists that follow things in order to better appreciate relations between their producers and consumers is published in full, with a full reference and a hyperlink to the original source. Additional material is also included, where relevant, if the story is talked about in other sources and has an impact on the ways in which the story unfolds. Examples of article pages already published include those on tea, iPads and perfume.
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2)‘compilation pages’: existing films, art work, books, academic articles & what’s been said about them
These pages are based on already-existing examples of ‘follow the thing’ work. Each page encourages ‘shoppers’ to find and read/watch the original example – via the ‘database’ information at the start and, if possible, an embedded, downloadable or hyperlinked ‘original’ – and to then see how it has been explained, questioned, received and worked with by its makers, collaborators, audiences and various others. These explanations, etc. are presented in the form of ‘compilations’ of carefully chosen and arranged ‘clips’, i.e. quotations from various properly referenced and linked sources which, read together, should encourage conversation about what the source ‘is’, how it ‘works’ and for whom, and what it seems to have done in the world. Examples of ‘compilation’ pages already published include those on nuts, hair extensions and books.
[If you want to include the making of a compilation page for followthethings.com as university, college or school coursework, please email followthethings@yahoo.com for a worksheet].
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3)‘new work pages’: work produced specifically for followthethings.com
A key aim of this website is to encourage, inspire and showcase new ‘follow the things’ work. All of the new work currently in store has been produced by undergraduate students taking courses (or undertaking dissertation work) with Ian Cook at Exeter (and previously Birmingham) University in the UK and with Keith Brown at Brown University in the USA. Examples of these ‘new work’ pages include those on mirrors, avocados and laptop computers. If you would like to create some new work work followthethings.com, please email followthethings@yahoo.com with ideas and questions.
All contributions will be reviewed (and may be edited) by Ian Cook and Keith Brown before publication. Contributors will be given a credit line at the foot of their page, and a ‘page reference’ identifying them as the author(s).
New work: useful academic resources
There are a number of freely available academic readings that we recommend you read before you start your ‘new work’ research:
Ian Cook, James Evans, Helen Griffiths, Lucy Mayblin, Becky Payne & David Roberts (2007) ‘Made in…?’ appreciating the everyday geographies of connected lives. Teaching geography Summer, p.80-3 (http://www.youngpeoplesgeographies.co.uk/download/YPG_TGSum07Cook.pdf last accessed 9 July 2011)
Ian Cook, James Evans, Helen Griffiths, Rebecca Morris, Sarah Wrathmell, et al. (2007) ‘It’s more than just what it is’: defetishising commodities, expanding fields, mobilising change… Geoforum 38(6), p.1113-1126 (http://www.geog.canterbury.ac.nz/inlt/cook et al 2007.pdf last accessed 9 July 2011)
David Harvey (1990) Between space and time: reflections on the geographical imagination. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 80(3), p.418-434 (http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic80806.files/Week_6/Harvey_D_Between_Space_and_Time.pdf last accessed 9 July 2011)
Hari Kunzru (1997) You are cyborg: for Donna Haraway, we are already assimilated. Wired, February (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.02/ffharaway_pr.html last accessed 21 March 2011)
George Marcus (1995) Ethnography in/of the world system: the emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual review of anthropology 24, p.95-117 (http://www.dourish.com/classes/readings/Marcus-MultiSitedEthnography-ARA.pdf last accessed 9 July 2011)
Robert Foster (2006) Tracking globalization: commodities and value in motion. in Chris Tilley et al. (eds) Handbook of material culture. London: Sage, p.285-300 (http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Q6SRtZ3r87UJ:https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fileDownloadForInstitutionalItem.action?itemId=5217&itemFileId=8093+tracking+globalization&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShB_TT1X-JYH2P91MAD0-5XfbBTFDRvPEFes7fVNf4xnnmqHFOeQwbE1c0stUK5ntzjtifhzCAImw83cymeooy4IfEVsgHfgA2cQknWdIJc1sQ1iIln_cnSptTc0EksMZ2MO8Wr&sig=AHIEtbQcgiZk7RvAvLUQSjCJU01JTASeLA last accessed 9 July 2011)
Robert Foster (2008) Show and tell: teaching critical fetishism with a bottle of Coke®. Anthropology news April, p.38 (http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:6z18gKFfVdsJ:https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fileDownloadForInstitutionalItem.action?itemId=5031&itemFileId=7749+critical+fetishism&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShuCsGBtc8pk8ZMzzsRWHUUBD0mfEdRLQIKYqnbK4QdjzMfmmeBmIr_HwpEGHHLmmepsdVM0s4XD12Ed2tBj1yBY_Nk-IS08v36qH594vz62cvzwQS4cm8BW0SLdfFpfJCEqP5H&sig=AHIEtbQpprJST2SiXsNhJ-4KR-gXEq9Vtw last accessed 9 July 2011)
Please contact us at followthethings@yahoo.com if you know of other useful and freely available writing on this topic.
New work: useful online resources
For help with detective work about the thing (and/or its ingredients/components) that you want to follow, the agricultural and/or manufacturing processes they go through, the research that may have been done on them already, the campaigns that may have focused on them, and the specific companies that manufacture them, these websites are recommended:
How Stuff Works - How Stuff Is Made - Sourcemap - Wikichains - Project Label - alibaba.com
Ethical Consumer’s Current Boycotts List and Buyers’ Guides
Corporatewatch - Women Working Worldwide - No Sweat
Supply Chain Times - supplymanagement.com
United Students Against Sweatshops - Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour
Nexis (newspaper database - check your library subscription) - Google Scholar - Google Books
Please contact us at followthethings@yahoo.com with details of other websites that can help with followthethings detective work.
Finally...
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Posted by Ian Cook (last updated September 2011).
