Title

A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CURRICULUM DOCUMENTS TAKEN FROM

THE INTERNET ON JEWELLERY MAKING IN THE ACADEMY

Donald William Ellis, Dip.T. (Art), B.Ed., M.Ed. Studies

A minor thesis submitted for the degree of

Master of Education

University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia

June, 1999

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 CANDIDATE'S DECLARATION

Thesis/Project Title: A Discourse Analysis of Curriculum Documents Taken from the

Internet on Jewellery Making in the Academy

Candidates name: Donald William Ellis

I declare that this thesis/project is the result of my own research, that it does not
incorporate without acknowledgment any material submitted for a degree or diploma
in any University and that it does not contain any materials previously published,
written or produced by another person except where due reference is made in the text.

Signed: ________________________________

Date: _________________________________

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Abstract

This thesis sets out to bring into focus the problems encountered when craft education
and training is transferred from an industrial setting to academia. It achieves this
through an analysis of introductory texts placed on the Internet by selected
universities from three "western" countries. Although the texts set out to explain and
promote to the world the nature of the programs offered at each site the possibility of
them "saying" more than what is gained by a casual reading is the focus of the
investigation. The prospect of important questions being raised (explicitly and
implicitly) about the relationship between craft in general (and jewellery in particular)
and the academy is sought through both critical and post - structural discourse
analyses.

The characteristics of the carrying medium (the Internet) are also considered as an
important factor in the reading as they add new dimensions, such as a lack of
mediation and intertextuality, not experienced by face to face or hard copy contact.

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 Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Craft - From the Workshop to the Lecture Theatre

Introduction…………………………………………………1.
Historical Background……………………………………...2.
Visual Art and Craft………………………………………..3.
Definition of Craft…………………………………………..5.
Overturning Attitudes……………………………………...5.
University, Jewellery and the Internet…………………….6.
Conclusion…………………………………………………...8.

Chapter 2: The Newlyweds - Craft and the Word

Introduction…………………………………………………9.
On Language………………………………………………..10.
Language and Craft………………………………………...14.
Language and the Internet…………………………………16.
Language and the Institutional Redefinition of Craft……19.
Conclusion…………………………………………………...23.

Chapter 3: Method and Theory/Theory and Method?

Methodology and the Research Problem…………………..25.
Methodology and the Research Question………………….26.
Theoretical Bases to Methodological Approaches………...27.
Precis of Selected Foucauldian Discourse Regularities…..30.
Methodology for the Research……………………………...31.
Analysis………………………………………………………33.
Application of the Unities of Discourse and Enunciative
Modalities…………………………………………………….33.
Evaluation……………………………………………………36.
Data…………………………………………………………...36.
Limitations of Study…………………………………………37.

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Chapter 4: The Research - Dismantling the Edifice
The Research Process………………………………….38.
The Research……………………………………………39.
England………………………………………………….39.
The London Guildhall University……………………...39.
Sheffield Hallam University……………………………44.
The United States of America…………………………..48.
Syracuse University…………………………………….48.
Humboldt State University…………………………….52.
Australia………………………………………………...55.
University of New South Wales………………………..55.
University of South Australia………………………….59.

Chapter 5: Sifting Through the Rubble

Introduction……………………………………………...63.
Tentative Conclusions…………………………………..64.
Research Results - Individual Sites…………………….64.
Research Results - Country of Origin…………………67.
Research Results - Country to Country……………….68.
Overview of Conclusions………………………………..69.
Significance of the Internet……………………………..69.
Brief Evaluation of Project……………………………..71.
Value of Research……………………………………….72.

References………………………………………………..73.

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Chapter 1.
Craft - From the Workshop to the Lecture Theatre

Introduction
It could be argued that the traditional communicative modes of the academy are
text based, that is, intellectual work in universities is both generated and assessed
by language - albeit written, verbal or in mathematical/scientific codes. Physical
objects as ultimate end products assessed for their intrinsic value are not a part of
the traditions of university core activities. Universities are not seen as appropriate
settings to design and make engagement rings or coffee mugs. Objects such as
these are only valued by the academy as sources of information for research
activities in traditional disciplines such as history or anthropology or in the more
recent departments of cultural studies as contextual cultural markers.

Since the early 1970's many changes in the structure of universities have occurred,
one of which was the transfer of art and craft schools from colleges of advanced
education, independent institutions and vocational schools or colleges to
universities. The foundations of these newly introduced disciplines varied
considerably, for instance visual art at that time was in a transitional state as it was
emerging from Modernism to Post-Modernism whilst craft was still groping for an
identity that would justify its existence in an environment where hand production
of functional objects for everyday use was no longer essential. Whatever the
foundations of these interlopers may have been in their former settings they had to
be modified in order to adapt to the policies and practices of universities. It could
be said that they had to be, in some way, "intellectualised" in order to meet the
university traditions. One of the outcomes of intellectualisation was a more
rigorous scrutiny of what art and craft objects actually mean as "texts" and
especially how they respond to the current theoretical, philosophical,
anthropological, sociological and political frameworks that are the province of
academic study. In essence they had to written about, spoken of and presented in
ways alien to their traditions but consistent with university policy and practice.

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Historical Background
In the past independent art and craft schools (although ceramics was often the only
nominated craft) educated and trained artists and craftspeople with a minimal
emphasis on theory - a chronological and period based history was taught but this
was a very small aspect of the curriculum. In fact, in these institutions the visual or
fine arts and the crafts tended to share some characteristics, as they were both
uncritically craft based (the craft of painting, sculpture, illustration, etc.). As art
schools occupied a space of their own making at this time unfettered by formal
theory and intellectual analysis they were free to operate in an environment
structured around a self constructed value system.
M
any crafts never made it to Art School (including jewellery and fibre and fabric) the
training for these was carried out in industry or in technical colleges (TAFE and its
forerunners). They were later subsumed by the tertiary education system firstly by
the CAE's and later by the universities. The change in education and training
methods was greater for craft than visual art and therefore the transition less
seamless. The possibility of intellectualising them in a hurry was difficult
especially as they were considered by all (rightly or wrongly) to be activities that
were the very antithesis of intellectualism.

The problem had its roots in earlier times. The primary and secondary school
system not only relegated art and craft to sections of the curriculum to be taken by
students who were considered to be intellectually inferior but they also streamed
so-called bright students away from them. The pool of high school graduates who
had experiences in the crafts and the craft-based visual arts and who were eligible
for tertiary study was small and to a significant extent remains so today.

Nevertheless university departments were established and strategies had to be

worked out to cater for the necessary sensory based training of the crafts (hand
skills etc.) and the established modus operandi of the universities especially the
notion that language based text is the prime mode of communication. An additional
problem for craft was created by a strand of "post-modern" thought appropriated
by university art departments that expanded the definition of text to include all that
could be read, which of course included all visual imagery. This, in a sense, fell

2
into their hands as it was used as a validation for teaching craft and the evaluation
of craft objects as a text based activity rather than a sensory/corporeal one.

How texts were constructed and used had to link craft and the language based
visual arts. They then had to be disseminated for public scrutiny through the
available communication media; the Internet is the newest and potentially the most
powerful of these channels.

The study to be undertaken looks at one type of Internet text - the promotional text
that heads up course information on jewellery programs. It looks at how it is
written to encompass both craft and academia and how craft in the university is
brought under the umbrella with other intellectual activities.

Visual Art and Craft

The objects that were made in the traditional art schools were corporeal in nature;
their critique was highly subjective and based on their sensory qualities. Once
ensconced in academia their evaluation and therefore the intention of their
production had to be altered to suit their new circumstances. Essentially theory had
to be researched and written for both the visual arts and particularly the crafts to
facilitate this change. Visual art accomplished this by turning away from objects
and developing a visual form that did not factor skill or craft making as an
evaluated criterion making the way for such definitions as conceptual, post-object
and installation art. As the made object (and so the craft) was no longer a central
issue, visual art settled reasonably comfortably into academia. Theory gradually
surpassed practice in both time allocation and importance and more significantly
theory (and to a lesser extent history) became the basis for the physical activity
needed to make the artwork visible and therefore readable. Theory and practice
were not fully integrated in the case of visual art as theory had largely usurped
practice.

As I am primarily concerned with the position of craft practice (and by

implication, jewellery) for this study it is necessary not only to consider how the
universities suggest in promotional passages on the Internet what might go on in a
university workshop and what they value in craft teaching (and therefore how

3
language and other "texts" affect it) but also how its relations with the visual arts
may have shaped its introduction to the academy. Craft and the visual arts existed
in a hegemonic relationship as the visual arts had already claimed the high ground
by encompassing elements of the academy in the late 1960's and early 1970's
influenced (at least superficially) by the theoretical concerns of the non-studio
departments of visual art history and theory in universities. Craft assumed the role
of the "dumb artisan" (Dormer 1994. P.15) because, for a number of reasons, it did
not adopt visual art theory at that time, it in fact assumed a siege mentality and
behaved as if it agreed with the status assigned to it by the visual arts. Peter
Dormer, an English writer on the crafts added an international perspective to this
situation in "The Art of the Maker" -

It might be the case that 'Art is whatever you say is art', but the reality is that
this statement is only significant if other artists agree to recognize the artist
and the art as such. Any outsider can call what they make 'art' but it will not
carry any weight unless the 'profession' agrees. The profession includes art
curators, art critics, art theorists and the editors of art magazines. To be a
successful artist is to understand the tacit prejudices and the orthodoxies of
the day.

Craft, for example, is not recognized as art (Irrespective of any English

dictionary definition). The efforts of studio craftspeople to get themselves
accepted as artists are often wasted. Acceptance now depends on denying or
subverting craft, or insisting that craft is the least important aspect of the
work. Even then, a work in what is perceived to be a craft medium, such as
clay or glass or textiles, is seldom accepted as art. Such orthodoxies and
prejudices may be unfair or illogical, but they exist; they are as common as
the prejudices of social distinction, manners and class which permeate North
American and European society. (Dormer, 1994,pp.26-27)

The craft world had to either belatedly take up the ground opened by the visual arts
or establish a theoretical frame-work of its own that was both particular to its needs
and acceptable to the academy. Craft theory is now being researched and written,
although still in an embryonic form.

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Definition of Craft
The developing definition of craft as both a practice and a discipline in education,
in fact, precluded the adoption of visual art theory. Craft is made through the direct
sensory involvement of the maker and the user (the user continues to "make" the
object by her/his idiosyncratic interaction with it) and its value is measured in part
by the potency of this two-way engagement. It would no longer be craft if it
discarded the centrality of the physical object so following in the footsteps of the
visual arts and becoming a non-object was not (and is not) an option. Craft also
has a tradition and a truth to uphold, that is it reminds us of the fact that in spite of
new technologies and work practices we are still physical animals and the desire to
manifest this physicality has not suddenly diminished because it is no longer
required. The relationship between craft and theory in the academy has had to be
treated differently to the visual arts but at the same time not down rated in its
relative importance to it. The aphorism "equal but different" became the mantra of
the craft movement. Theory and practice have to be immutably linked in craft,
theory must be inside practice and practice must be inside theory so that neither is
lost nor diminished in teaching or practice.

How will the study to be undertaken reveal the degree the Internet texts, as
presented by the selected universities spell out methods of including theory and
practice and to what degree may they lean towards the theories implicit in either
craft or visual art?

Overturning Attitudes
Attitudes are difficult to overturn when power relations have to be modified in
order for change to take place. The Marxist notion of false consciousness, the
belief by the oppressed in the values of the oppressor, is a useful theoretical
concept when considering the art/craft debate, and since the inclusion of craft in
academia, the craft/university debate. Craft makers and teachers have traditionally
believed in their assigned status as "bottom feeders" in the art world food chain.
This has meant that its entrance into the academic arena has been undertaken with
an attitude that is not conducive to changing the institution to suit its particular
theoretical position but rather one that permits it (in league with the ensconced fine
arts) to assign craft a role that perpetuates the status quo. The lowly position of

5
craft in the pecking order is therefore transported intact into the institution allowing
the values of both the fine arts and the university to dominate. Pamela Johnson
remarked on this situation in her introduction to series of papers on
reconceptualising craft within the higher education institution.

The existence of this UEA Fellowship is evidence of the need to make craft
knowledge, in all its complexity, fully understood. Part of the problem is the
tendency of the craft community towards passivity, to take 'no' for answer, to
internalise a sense of second class citizenship. We grumble among ourselves
but nevertheless accept a 'ring-fenced' position. Some may argue that this self
protection has been necessary in order, as it were, to provide a place of safety
in which the crafts might flourish. But this protected status also fuels the
popular (mis) conception of the crafts as culturally insignificant.

Craftspeople have not been as proactive as they might be in asserting their

presence and value within contemporary culture. There is a tendency to wait
to be asked; rarely has the possibility of initiating activity been explored.
Although craftspeople look longingly over the boundaries, envying the
attention which other areas in the field of visual culture receive, how many
cross the boundary and join in? Boundaries need to be permeable in both
directions.

The papers here are all examples of what can happen when a boundary is
crossed, when a craft presence is relocated or placed not quite where expected
within an institution. (Johnson 1998, p.101)

By looking at and analysing public texts on the Internet, written by the universities,
it may be possible to detect the degree to which the balance between the theoretical
assumptions implicit to craft and those of academia and the visual arts have been
either maintained or overturned.

University, Jewellery and the Internet

The purpose of this brief study is to take a measured glance at an aspect of what is
written about one craft (jewellery making) in academic texts and how course
profiles, philosophies and structures are enunciated on the Internet in order to
attract students and proclaim to the virtual world the values and intentions of

6
offering manual training in an academic setting. This could both clear some ground
and create a backdrop for other more in depth studies on such things as course
content, teaching methodologies and assessment criteria.

The question of what is meant by jewellery is raised by these recent interventions

(jewellery teaching in the academy and its promotion through the Internet) because
it is possible that these sites may reveal another definition(s) that can justifiably
carry the archaic practice of jewellery making into the future.

In particular will the fact that these university initiated jewellery texts are on the
Internet help shape a new definition of jewellery because the influential, anarchic
nature of the global dissemination of knowledge has dialectic possibilities?

The source of these texts (the Internet) is not value free. Its recent and rapid
proliferation and its possibilities as a new form of discourse have not been
comprehensively studied and therefore its effect on how text is read not completely
understood. The medium used to present these texts also needs to be considered as
it may affect the outcomes of the primary analysis.

Nevertheless the archaic world of hand production and the virtual world of
digitised information dispersal have met in the teaching workshop of the academy.
Additionally language has, to a degree, usurped "hands on" demonstration as a
means of transmitting information about the "how and why" of hand making at the
end of the 20th. Century - almost all industrial workshops are now dependent on
computerised information dispersal and retrieval in order to operate. Craft based
programs in universities and TAFE colleges not only use these technologies within
their programs (it would impossible to find a document that has not been "word
processed") but they are also ever increasingly reliant on the ultimate means of
occupying global territory, the Internet, to exist at all.

What is said and how it is said is, therefore, of some importance to the standing of
these programs as intimate details are (implicitly or explicitly) revealed to the
world - details that previously were provincial and dispersed with discretion. I am
theorising that this information may be saying more than what is written and that it

7
may be possible to unearth this by applying forms of critical discourse analysis to
it.

Conclusion
The problematic of hand skills teaching in an academic environment needs to be
addressed as they are central to all craft teaching - the texts published through the
Internet must take them into consideration using language acceptable by both the
universities and potential students. Once these brief texts are placed in an open
forum on the Internet they are unmediated by expert intervention and therefore
open only to the interpretation of the commonplace language used. A critical
discourse analysis of these texts may help to reveal a range of meanings because it
has the capacity to tease out some of the less apparent intentions behind the
seemingly benign facade of these texts.

Internet text information, rightly or wrongly, is becoming the dominant means of

disseminating data and information to the world. This is expanding and may, in the
near future, become the norm - the need to research its use and effect is therefore
important if we are to understand its anarchic nature.

Jewellery texts on the net make interesting topics because they bring together the
archaic and the new as well as displaying to the world the difficult task of writing
clearly and avoiding misinterpretation.

8
Chapter 2.
The Newlyweds - Craft and the Word

Introduction
Contemporary writing, research and criticism are necessary if the crafts are to
retain a place in the new technological society. Over a relatively short period of
time the production (and reproduction) of objects has been abstracted from the
direct intervention of the hand and the brain to the machine and the computer. An
understanding of the functions of craft teaching, production and use (beside the
utilitarian) is necessary if the practice is still to be seen as valid culturally and thus
supported by the institutions and funding bodies who have control of its destiny.

This dearth of writing and research pertinent to the crafts, especially as they are
now ensconced in academia, prompted James Evans to point out in his contribution
to the conference papers "Ideas in the Making" -

The noticeably absent theoretical frameworks for talking about contemporary

craft practice and craft production force one to rely on the few available
charts that do exist. And much available material to map the Land of Craft
are like those alluring fifteenth-century maps full of anecdotal details,
inaccurate features, fanciful terrains, romantic visions and projective
ideological details.

With this in mind, my presentation 'Significant Work' should be seen as an

early and cursory attempt at charting one aspect of this ancient but under-
explored cultural terrain. It is one possible approach (among many) with
which to commence the journey to the mainland. This necessarily brief
survey will touch upon three aspects that any notion of 'significant work'
would need to research and analyse: work (its social history, status, etc.);
bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence; and the comparative study of various visual
culture practices (for instance, the 'fine art' object type as distinct from the
'craft' object type).

Quite why this mapless situation prevails within such an active and
fascinating field of contemporary cultural endeavour has only recently begun

9
 to be systematically (if 'maverickly') addressed, in books such as Women and
Craft (1987) Craft in Society: An Anthology of Perspectives (1992); Meaning
and Metaphor: A Discussion of Meaning in Contemporary Craft (1994); The
Art of the Maker: Skill and its Meaning in Art, Craft and Design (1994);
Craft, Art or Design? In Pursuit of the Changing Concept of Craft (1996),
Obscure Objects of Desire? Reviewing the Crafts in the Twentieth Century
(1997); The Culture of Craft (1997) and Craft and Contemporary Theory
(1997). And these titles - apart from discursive tracts to be found in
exhibition catalogues, craft journals (the short-lived Craft History deserving
an honourable mention here), area-specific survey texts and papers circulated
at academic conferences - constitute the total extent of scholarly literature on
the subject: eight titles in eleven years. The crafts-theory bookshelf is a
lonely and desolate place. (Evans 1997/98, p.33)

Considering the lack of available theoretical material as exemplified in the above

quote and the understanding of jewellery (and necessarily jewellery teaching) in
the academy as inextricably embodied in language and theory it is crucial that any
available material is brought forward for consideration.

Jewellery is now written - it is introduced, taught, assessed, critiqued, described

and placed in social and cultural contexts as language. It is often only recorded for
posterity by what is written about it or how it was assessed, as much of it is
ephemeral, fragile or destined to be recycled. The problem is that what is written
now is based on theories and practices drawn from two inappropriate models,
visual art and industry. The lack of writing and research directed specifically at
craft has created a problem if it is going to inhabit a world where the dominant
communicative modes are language and text based. .

On Language
In a contemporary setting language is a powerful instrument (especially when it is
amplified by the electronic media) but has not this always been the case especially
when it is linked with its twin, literacy. In the forward to Paulo Freire's "The
Pedagogy of the Oppressed" Richard Shaull briefly outlined the results of Freire's
work in Latin America when he described his work on literacy as a transforming
experience.

10
 In fact, those who, in learning to read and write, came to a new awareness of
selfhood and begin to look critically at the social situation in which they find
themselves, often take the initiative in acting to transform the society that has
denied them this opportunity of participation. (Shaull 1990, p.9)

Although it borders on the indecent to compare the position of craft in academia

and the oppression of the people Freire worked with nevertheless the analogy is
useful in an intellectual sense because craft in its new setting is also yet to
construct a language of its own and is therefore condemned to use the language of
the "oppressor". Freire described eloquently the power of the word when it
functions on two fronts - reflection and action.

As we attempt to analyse dialogue as a human phenomenon, we discover

something which is the essence of dialogue itself: the word. But the word is
more than just an instrument which makes dialogue possible; accordingly, we
must seek its constituent elements. Within the word we find two dimensions;
reflection and action, in such radical interaction that if one is sacrificed - even
in part - the other immediately suffers. There is no true word that is not at the
same time a praxis. Thus, to speak a true word is to transform the world.

An unauthentic word, one which is unable to transform reality, results when

dichotomy is imposed upon its elements. When a word is deprived of its
dimension of action reflection automatically suffers as well; and the word is
changed into idle chatter, into verbalism, into an alienated and alienating
'blah'. It becomes an empty word, one which cannot denounce the world, for
denunciation is impossible without a commitment to transform, and there is
no transformation without action.

On the other hand, if action is emphasized exclusively, to the detriment of

reflection, the word is converted into activism. The latter - action for action's
sake - negates the true praxis and makes dialogue impossible. Either
dichotomy, by creating unauthentic forms of existence, also creates
unauthentic forms of thought, which reinforce the original dichotomy. (Freire
1990, p.60)

11
Freire is emphasising here the idea that two dimensions of the word are necessary
if it is to carry with it a certain authenticity - if it does it has the capacity to
transform the world and as I assume that jewellery and craft in general is as much a
world open to transformation as any other, it has the capacity to transform it also.

It could be said that Michel Foucault in a particular way was also concerned with
literacy (discourse) when he said that discourses are "practices that systematically
form the objects of which they speak" (Foucault 1995,p. 49). Literacy in
Foucauldian discourse methodology may also enable the craft worker to
understand the power relations that affect her/his world within the wider arts
community. Literacy is not only of the Freirian variety but also in a post-modern
world where the grand narratives are disputed and the local and the contextual are
favoured, to be literate and therefore empowered is to understand the nature of
discourse. Craft education and practice is not immune from being interpreted by
these new language formations even though its traditions are considered to be
primitive, physical and non-intellectual.

Justin Clemens brings these seemingly distant fields together (of Foucauldian
discourse and craft practice) by rephrasing some fundamental questions concerning
the relationship between discourse and craft. He calls on Foucault's assertion that
the practice of discourse constructs the object to question the notion of the
existence of craft at all.

And all this may seem very distant from questions of craft and craft practice
(Foucauldian discourse), Foucauldians would answer that this is indeed not
the case. For instead of asking the still Platonic questions - "What is craft?"
or "What does craft mean?" - a Foucauldian analysis would rather ask "What
sort of practices in what historical conditions have been called craft? Who
has then done craft, and how has it been evaluated, and by whom? How has
craft been used in the battle of ongoing power relations in society? And to
what ends?" Furthermore, for Foucault, in a very specific sense, "craft" could
not be said to exist. It would rather be a name that one gives, or finds oneself
given, with regards to situations that are constantly in flux. (Clemens 1996,
p.49)

12
If this interpretation of Foucault is accepted and the questions seen as valid his
writing becomes a powerful analytical tool for looking at all craft texts when they
shift territory or are colonised either passively or aggressively. They are questions
that are particularly pertinent when craft is relocated from an industrial training
setting to academia - the focus of this study.

Clemens also tackles this often-expressed argument that the values implicit to craft
are beyond the reach of post-modern and post-structuralist interpretation. His claim
is that an understanding of Foucauldian discourse, especially in relation to the
exercise and implementation of power, can help deal with the unfavourable
position craft finds itself when it is asked to share the established territory of the
visual arts in the institution. He suggests in the text below that theory construction
is a way of dealing with this power differential.

All such arguments (that post-modern theory is not relevant to craft because
of its practical nature) are inevitably linked for Foucault with institutional
power. For example, we might point out that the recent interest in theory is
one index of a growing professionalisation and academicisation of craft,
which often involves a sort of "interior colonisation" of already established
fine arts departments, and which points to new forms of training and
development institutions, new markets, new gallery and museum spaces for
craft. (Clemens 1996, p.50)

"Interior colonisation" is another process that has impinged on how craft in general
and jewellery in particular is textualised and thus affected by language use. Visual
(fine) art, already established in the academy, having cultivated a language
pertinent to its own survival absorbed the new arrival - craft was not only
subsumed (and overpowered) by academia in general but by visual art departments
in particular. The language in much "academic" writing on craft is a hybrid of these
two languages, (visual art and the academy) neither of which is totally applicable.

13
Language and Craft
Craft is not immune from language as many practitioners still claim - language
contextualises craft objects and positions them in social settings. In order to
understand this it may be more profitable to look at craft objects in social settings
from the perspective of Material Culture Studies theory than Visual Art theory as,
unlike craft, visual art is divorced, to a greater degree, from the traces of human
intervention. As human intervention is what differentiates craft from visual art and
Material Culture Studies is language based, craft and language are brought
together. By doing this we place craft objects in a field where it is natural to talk
about them (embody them in language) thus overcoming the stereotype that
language and craft are incommensurate. Christopher Tilley's language based view
of material culture talks about it as a communicative medium and as craft objects
are a part of material culture they become instrumental in language based social
intercourse.

Material culture is a framing and communicative medium involved in social

practice. It can be used for transforming, storing or preserving social
information. It also forms a symbolic medium for social practice, acting
dialectically in relation to that practice. It can be regarded as a kind of text, a
silent form of writing and discourse; quite literally, a channel of reified and
objectified expression. (Tilley 1997/98, p.95)

Because craft is more open to the "exchange" of meanings and is active in social
relations its interpretation in and as language is more understandable. Andrew
Jackson in a paper at the Obscure Objects of Desire conference at East Anglia
commented on this when he refuted Peter Dormer's assertion that craft is not
literary by saying that language is the mediating medium for all understanding of
the world.

This way of looking at material culture derives much of its method from
linguistics. Although Peter Dormer may have been right to point out that pots
are not literary, in his paper published last year, he was wrong to dismiss
analogies drawn between culture and language. Language is the use of a set
of signifying systems to represent things and exchange meaning about them.
Meaning comes from language, and everything we know about the world is

14
 mediated by language (my italics). According to Lacanian psychoanalysis,
even the unconscious is thought to be structured as though it were a language.
(Jackson 1997, p.288)

In fact the very existence of the word "craft" (and craft jewellery) and all the
connotations emanating from it is dependent on highly contentious meanings and
use of the word itself and its relationship with the companions words "design" and
"art". Anna-Marja Ihatsu (1997) pursued this problem closely by researching the
use and context of these words in publications associated with craft, art and design.
What I saw emerging from her study was the difficulty encountered in using
language to articulate meanings concerning multi-sensory corporeal objects when
their visual representation was not available. The difficulty of writing about a
workshop based program (craft) without images that is directed at potential
students most of who would not have made anything at this point is patently
obvious. Many of the Internet introductory messages used the words, art, craft and
design as if they were interchangeable, craft, in similar contexts is sometimes
referred to as art or design. Ihatsu alluded to this problem in the introduction to her
paper "Craft, Art or Design? In pursuit of the changing concept of "craft". -

The first important, but none the less, problematic issue emerged at the very
beginning of my study: that it was quite impossible to define craft without
taking into account concepts associated with art and design. This, I
understand is what semioticians mean when they say that no word has a
meaning by itself the meaning has value only in relation to other alternative
words in the same system. Therefore, for example, to know what "craft"
means, we have to know what other words close to that word mean. (Ihatsu
1997, p.300)

Sue Rowley uses the confusion of naming the practice as a launching pad for
looking at the problems implicit in craft writing in general. The uncertain use of
naming language, in her opinion, is symptomatic of the general uncertainty of
identity in the crafts and thus the difficulty in the development of a pertinent craft
theory and criticism. She raised questions regarding the nomenclature surrounding
craft and the problems for theory and criticism caused by this confusion.

15
 What shall we call them? Craftsmen, craftspeople craftsworkers, crafts
artists, artists working as makers, artists, potters, ceramists, sculptors, ceramic
artists, fibre artists, weavers, embroiderers, quilt makers - the wide range of
alternative names suggests that the identity of contemporary crafts in
Australia is unresolved and uncertain. This paper explores some of the
implications of this uncertain identity for the development of craft criticism
and theory. (Rowley 1992, p, 166)

She goes on to explore the language from other sources and disciplines such as
visual art, feminism, modernism and post-modernism in an effort to extract a
language methodology that is pertinent to the particularities of craft practice.
Although mining other fields may help to determine what craft is not the problem
of what craft is still remains. The present uneasy nexus between language and craft
needs to be overcome if it is to take its place in a language saturated world.

Language and the Internet

Not only does the institution have to face the problem of attempting to construct a
language to represent it in print but it is also impelled to represent itself on an
uncontrollable medium such as the Internet. It places its language construction on a
medium that, to a degree, precludes an autonomous reading - it is possible to scan
individual texts in conjunction with other texts of the same genre on the same
medium. Although all these texts may or may not be directly linked it is possible to
spontaneously print out several at any given time and create a "book" of texts thus
"authoring" an intertext that in a sense is a hard copy hypertext. The effect is a non-
specific fluidity. George Landow succinctly describes hypertext in his Internet text
as-

text composed of blocks of words (or images) linked electronically by

multiple paths, chains, or trails in an open - ended perpetually unfinished
textuality described by the terms link, node, network, web, and path: (Landow
1998, p.1)

Foucault's discourse proposition can be seen to share some of the characteristics of

hypertext, that is, his notion of identifying the discursive field which formed the

16
concept rather than the history as "the stone by stone construction of an edifice"
(Foucault 1995, p.56) seems to resonate with the way hypertext constructs
knowledge from the electronic "field" in which it operates.

Hypertext discards the linear approach; it instead uses an associative or web

model similar to how people think. We learn by constantly making
associations between what we read or experience and what we already know.
Similarly, a hypertext document contains links between items of information
the writer considers to be related. In well-crafted hypertext, these links
anticipate many of the readers questions and associations. (The Applied
Communications Group, 1998, p.1)

Connecting across the electronic "field" on the Internet may be seen as an

application of Foucault's model because in spite of the suggestion in the above
quote that the writer deliberately connects the navigator across the web, the entire
field of hypertext connections cannot be controlled by one writer. To an extent the
field manages itself and constructs the object according to a less predictable range
of influences - somewhat like the Foucauldian object. As a response to this notion
of web self-construction a writer on the Internet invites contributors to participate
in an essay he started "This Essay Needs You…to contribute links, nodes, images,
and whatever else you feel is significant during your essay event."
(davidswf@sage.cc.purdue.edu1998, p.1) allowing the nature of the medium to supply
the "structure" and the contributors to supply the content.

Hypertext, according to Bill Hart-Davidson (Hart-Davidson 1998, p.1) can be

looked at as a discourse technology from two viewpoints. 1. As hyperlearning -
described as the connectedness of the two "brains" - the learners and the computers
using hypertext as an experiential medium and 2. Hyperscholarship - Harkin said
of hyperscholarship

If our knowledge resides in the network, then each attempt at scholarship

relies on negotiating and re-negotiating the network to make knowledge.
(Hart-Davidson 1998, p.1)

17
Foucault (1991, p.101) in his essay "What Is An Author" proposes that discourse is
authorless and the closest term possible to describe the relationship between writer
and writing is that of the "author function." This term could also be used to
describe the writer of hypertext who like Foucault's "author function" acts as an
agent for all the sources of appropriated discourse relevant to a particular text. Bill
Hart-Davidson noted the similarities of author function, computer software and
virtual discourse and the way they bring texts to reality.

It is not too difficult to imagine the "author function" as a type of societal

software or a virtual technology designed to handle a specific discursive
purpose. Just as the word processor is a soft ware designed to give users a
virtual environment in which to produce texts which will carry the social
significance of printed text into reality, the "author function" is designed to
allow language to be manipulated in a virtual environment in order to bring
authority to that language. (Hart-Davidson 1998, p.3)

Morgan when investigating alternative methodologies to conduct feminist post-

structuralist research scrutinised a hard copy thesis by Patti Lather and Chris
Smithies that organised each page of text in a non-linear way.

On any page it offers a horizontally split text telling two parallel tales of the
research; it presents side bars of anecdotes and "footnotes"; boxes with
factual information; and "angel" interchapters, in which snippets of sociology,
poetry and history and Lather's meditations on the nature of the angelic are
brought to bear symbolically on the "main" text. (Morgan 1998,p.1)

She noted that the post-structuralist organization of each of the printed pages had
been taken to the "limits of textual representation of knowledge" With the writers
approval she "loosened parts of it up as a hypertextual reinscription, using the
Storyspace program," illustrating the connection between post-structuralism and
hypertext.

18
It could be argued that the text data drawn from the jewellery education sites on the
Internet for this research also contains a mix of factual knowledge, poetry and
fantasy.

Although the impact of inter- and hypertextuality on craft language on and off the
Internet is perhaps over stated by the above argument it does serve to remind us
that new technology will continue to initiate changes in how language is used and
what it means.

Language and the Institutional Redefinition of Craft

The following long quote from a paper by Marion Marshall "Has Academia
Hijacked the Crafts and Who Will Pay" delivered at Persuasive Object conference
held in New Zealand in April 1998 is included because it was a widely
disseminated and commented on, made originally at an important conference
attended by influential people across the craft industry and was made by a
respected member of the craft community in Australia and New Zealand who, at
various times has been an academic and a practitioner. It prefaces this section
admirably as it voices the concern of many practitioners and some teachers of craft
(in this case specifically jewellery) in regard to the subsumption of craft education
by the universities. She suggests that because of this it is the language users who
have gained the upper hand and instead of the craft practitioners benefiting from
the academic take-over of craft education they have in effect lost ground further
reinforcing what Peter Dormer called the "dumb artisan" (Dormer 1994, p.15) tag.
The natural habitat of theoreticians, critics and curators is academia and in the past
they looked across a divide to the world of the maker and commented on what they
were doing at a distance, the craftsperson could take or leave their
pronouncements. They now have them in their grasp and because they share the
same residence can directly exert the power and influence they already have in the
institution and, to an extent, shape and nature of craft education and thus practice.

Writers and curators have become the public face of the professional side of
the crafts. They contribute to magazines and catalogues which live on long
after the work has been sold or destroyed. Curators and writers are
understandably looking for an interesting perspective or curatorial theme and

19
thus they expose work which gives them a chance to develop a deeper debate
or explore their own pet issues.

Writers and curators have therefore become the voice of the crafts. They are
usually the ones asked to speak at openings where the audience does not even
have to read the publication to get the sense that thoughts and words are what
matter most about the work. At the opening of Symmetry, a touring exhibition
linking craftspeople with allied trades such as breadmaking and dentistry, the
speaker congratulated the curator, the catalogue designer, the lighting expert
and the maker of the display cases. There was no reference to the
craftspeople at all. A number of influential craft writers and theorists in
Australia have developed a craft debate which relies on fine art theory,
completely excluding the practitioner whose work centres around the
traditions of material and process.

The Visual Arts/ Craft Fund of the Australia Council, the Federal Government
Funding Authority, is the major funder for visual arts and craft events,
exhibitions, publications, organisations and individual grants. This fund
assesses applications according to visual arts criteria, i.e., the message within
the medium and the visual power of the slide. When a panel evaluates a
submission they may never have seen the work before. However they are
likely to have read recent publications on visual art/craft practice, so there
again we see the power of the written word. Most assessors have a formal
education in the arts, and in Australia that means an in-depth study of the
history of painting. Seldom do art history classes cover design or three-
dimensional studies, although most have covered high and low-relief and
occasionally Greek black-and-red wares. So of course the panel assessing the
work can identify more readily with a painting exploring sexuality in painting
history than with a potter pursuing the domestic tea cup and its limited
production possibilities.

Students studying the crafts in Australia are either at TAFE where there is a
closer sense of relationship with industry and a job, or at University. Most
craft studies are within Fine Art Departments at University although some sit
with Design Departments. This can change the way in which the usefulness
of the product is viewed, as Design Departments also have industry
interchange and therefore the maker of the everyday domestic product is often

20
 encouraged to work with industry to develop work. However in Fine Art
Departments the emphasis is on the one-off conceptual, with students
encouraged to explore issues before resolution of design or function. This
emphasis is easy to justify as one is training to be an artist and a job at the end
is not meant to be an issue. I wonder how many parents and students
understand this at interview time

Students see their lecturers as role models and tertiary budget cuts have seen a
reduction in the number of sessional lecturers who can teach one day a week
and yet still be in their studios four to five days. Therefore the role model
nowadays is a lecturer with a high profile and often prolific exhibition
practice, a person who often writes and curates, as extra points come to
departments for such activities. Often this person has no relationship with
production work or the craft of the everyday, although perhaps they search for
these items as gifts for their friends and family.

Therefore how can the student see the worth of a career of hard physical
labour making a production line or domestic product? They do not hear about
the work at University. They do not see exhibitions of this type of work.
They cannot read curatorial reviews or in-depth articles about it. They do not
know any role models. And as if that were not enough, education budgets are
being cut so that studio time with a lecturer is rapidly shrinking at every
university around Australia. This is culminating in a lack of skills in students.
(Marshall 1998, pp.1-3)

The paper from which the above quote was taken later appeared on the Internet and
was subsequently picked up as a thread and discussed in the Orchid jewellery open
forum. Among others it prompted an online response from the General Manager of
Craft Australia, John Odgers that included the following passage -

As the national body, however, we do have great concerns that the

commitment to the teaching of skills, technique, materials knowledge, and the
history of craft is slowly being eroded in many of our tertiary institutions.
There are many reasons, of course, one being resources, another being the
lack of expertise and education in these areas by many academics in charge of
such courses, and yet another being the issues Marion discusses - the gradual

21
 taking over of the making of art by the talking and writing about art. (my
italics). (Odgers 1999, p.1)

This response is consistent with much related chatter on the forum concerning the
merits or otherwise of a university versus technical college education and training
for jewellers (especially in the USA where it is almost entirely deregulated)
especially the relationship between language and practice.
Not all forays into academia by craftspeople have been negative although the
positive responses are often clouded by personal gain (income, status, etc.).
Maxine Bristow, a textile designer, chronicles her absorption into a university
lecturing position in a paper titled "3 Weeks to Turn 348, Three Weeks to Turn
Intuition Towards Understanding". She, in a sense, turns the tables on the
institution by claiming that her role as a university lecturer and its required
language and theory use brought her back to her craft (textiles) because it enabled
her see the intrinsic value of her craft work. The theoretical and historical
evaluation of her work enabled these intrinsic values to surface (especially through
the study of material culture) and to break the hegemony with visual art in an
institutional setting. She said in her paper -

The 3 Weeks to Turn 348 within the title of this paper refers to a piece of work
produced during the summer of 1995. It was a piece of work that upon
reflection seemed to mark a point of transition. The years immediately prior
to its production had been a period of considerable re-evaluation and
reorientation, both of a personal and of an artistic nature. 3 Weeks to Turn 348
was largely an intuitive response to the visual research that had resulted from
this period of reflection. It marked culmination of much speculative activity
and the emergence of a visual language - a means of articulating sensations
and emotions that were very real but until that point had remained intangible.
It has taken the last three years; however; to fully recognize the significance
of that initial visual research and the work that has resulted from it. This
paper places my work in an evolving critical and artistic context. It charts the
movement between visual research, studio practice, and a developing interest
and acknowledgement of the crucial interdependence of theory and practice.
What I have come to realise over the course of these three years is that 'Art' is
usually made before a critical language is in place to make it understandable,

22
 yet it is often this critical language that makes us aware of the implications of
our actions. (my italics). (Bristow 1997/98, p.114)

The above may contain the basis for an approach to teaching workshop based
disciplines in universities by letting the intrinsic values of craft emerge through
theorising them after production rather than imposing on them ready made but
often inappropriate theories implicit to visual art.

Conclusion
The inclusion of workshop based disciplines, such as jewellery, in the academy has
necessarily brought to the surface issues of craft theory (and therefore language
use), as it is consistent with this domain. This, of course, is important as an
understanding of the role of craft objects in a post-industrial setting is essential if
contemporary craft practice is to continue in any form. The problem is to balance
theory and practice in an environment that traditionally favours the former over the
latter - the introduction and development of hand and industrial skills takes time in
pertinently shaped space/time formations that are not necessarily provided by
universities.

As the introduction of these programs to universities was carried out with little
forward research on the consequences of amalgamation and as the academy held
the upper hand it is felt in some quarters that the traditional and essential craft skill
bases would be lost in the all enveloping theoretical issues. This absorption has, in
fact, gradually taken place over approximately a ten-year period during which an
organic process has shaped the present state of affairs rather than considered
planning.

It is my contention that the present circumstances need to be researched in order to

evaluate the success or otherwise of this arrangement in order to make the
appropriate changes. As language use is the prime tool of academic discourse
analysis, on a global scale, it could provide the groundwork for more in-depth
research to follow.

23
In this review an attempt has been made to investigate what has been written about
the relationship between language use, craft practice, the new global dissemination
of information and the institutions that run craft programs. These relations not only
provide a background to the research but they also assist in making sense of the
introductory summations of programs as presented on the Internet, the data for the
study.

24
Chapter 3.
Method and Theory/Theory and Method?
Methodol
ogy and the Research Problem
The problem, in general, relates to how a craft making activity (eg. jewellery
making) is considered when its education and training is integrated into, and
managed by academia. In particular, how will the archaic techniques and processes
still necessary for craft production be catered for in universities while still
satisfying their approaches and policies of learning.

I will quote again from the paper entitled "Has Academia Highjacked the Crafts
and Who Will Pay" by Marion Marshall an eminent Melbourne trade and craft
jewellery practitioner with considerable teaching experience who argues that the
fundamental nature of craft practice has been lost in the takeover of craft training
by the institutions. She is not necessarily critical of the training they receive in the
context of the academy but rather that the practitioner, the backbone of the
industry, has lost a voice in this environment. She commented after surveying the
participants at the conference where she was delivering the lecture (they were all
from galleries, funding bodies and teaching institutions) that -

Organizations have to compete in an arena which wants the showiest

exhibition, the most colourful concept and the provocative stance.
Craftspeople are often the quiet voices in a competitive environment. Their
egos are fragile and their training has seldom equipped them with words to
express the value of their own output. They feel ignorant and shy when the
unique concept is discussed in a way which places it higher than tradition,
technique and material. They are often so involved in their own concerns
with new glaze techniques, the complexity of making new forms, developing
new designs and the business of earning a living to reward the hours given to
the task, that they do not or cannot spare time to committee involvement,
especially if made to feel that they are insular and unworldly, The solitary
nature of a steady practice means that words do not come easily and methods
have to be learnt to overcome such barriers. (Marshall 1998, p.3)

25
As the academy has now largely assumed the role of educating and training
craftspeople (including jewellers) the definition, role and status of the craft object
and the practitioner who makes it is valued not from a survey of the corporeal
object but from an analysis of the reference language used to initiate, theorise and
assess it and the site of its birth.

The academy like all other institutions has been forced onto the Internet in order to
compete in a media saturated world hence a combination of these two factors (the
academy and the Internet) together with its prime mode of communication,
language, is fertile ground for investigation.

Methodology and the Research Question

The question I am pursuing relates to the effect this most recent means of inducting
people into what was traditionally a trade by reconstituting and renaming it (and
attaching theoretical and conceptual concerns to it in an academic setting) has on a
practice that in the past functioned outside academia. In spite of the language used
to define the activity in the institution the techniques and skills of jewellery making
(and other crafts) necessary to manifest corporeal objects and the roles they play in
the social world persist as before.

In this small project I will look at one way the academy explains to the world their
broad view of craft by analysing a selection of the captions it uses to head the
promotion of jewellery courses on the Internet.

The importance of this project is not in the limited findings that may emanate from
it but rather in the way it can keep this crucial question open and alive as the
attendant problems of craft and trade education become more apparent. For
instance, is it necessary to teach these skills at all as computerisation and
mechanisation render the hand skill component of these activities impotent? Is the
academy agenda dangerous to the perpetuation of these skills and is the attempted
intellectualisation of an archaic practice and the notion that knowledge only comes
from research necessarily appropriate or fertile for their teaching? Whatever the
findings may reveal in regard to the aims of the institutions in relation to craft

26
education the study will nevertheless establish a foundation for further more
intense and revealing projects in the future.

Theoretical Bases to Methodological Approaches

The three analytical approaches used in this paper require brief explanations,
before they are activated, if they are to be fully understood by the reader. They are
Critical Discourse Analysis, General Discourse Analysis ("common sense"
analysis) and Foucauldian Analysis. They are used in this order throughout the
research project.

Critical Discourse Analysis

Critical Discourse Analysis as defined by Fairclough is principally a process
applied to written and oral texts where the signifier and the signified are
immutably linked through critical analysis. By prefacing discourse analysis with
the word "critical" a focus for the activity is activated. Critical Discourse Analysis
is essentially the search for ideology and hence power relations in text. Norman
Fairclough wrote in the introduction to "Critical Discourse Analysis"-

Power is conceptualised both in terms of asymmetries between participants in

discourse events, and in terms of unequal capacity to control how texts are
produced, distributed and consumed (and hence the shape of texts) in
particular sociocultural contexts. A range of properties of texts is regarded as
potentially ideological, including features of vocabulary and metaphors,
grammar, presuppositions and implicatures, politeness conventions, speech
exchange (turn taking) systems, generic structure and style. (Fairclough
1995,pp.1-2)

General (common sense) Discourse Analysis

The Webster Dictionary definition of the term, discourse analysis, as a noun is "the
study of linguistic relations and structures in discourse". This is an umbrella
definition that covers the variety and permutations of discourse analysis in general
but is limited as a methodological tool. It is necessary to identify an approach that
enables a process to engage with the text in order to draw identifiable conclusions
from the activity. The use of such a general term in this way does not link it with

27
any specific approach to analysis - it is as previously suggested a "common sense"
method of reading text and is only useful if the reader has both the necessary
knowledge of the subject matter and a solid command of the language in which it
is written. It could be the result of tacit learning where involvement and
experience has resulted in a body of knowledge sufficient to permit valuable
judgements to be made.

Foucauldian Discourse Analysis

Foucault's original writing (accepting the possible liberties taken in translation) is
both a poetic and a narrative. For example he wrote, when explaining the relation
between the said and not said in text analysis,

To this theme is connected another according to which all manifest discourse

is secretly based on an "already said;" and that this "already said" is not
merely a phrase that has already been spoken, or a text that has already been
written, but a "never said," an incorporeal discourse, a voice as silent as a
breath, a writing that is merely a hollow of its own mark. (Foucault 1995,
p.25)

His writing style thus creates a problem, as does his work on discourse ("The
Archaeology of Knowledge") which is predominantly about method not
conclusions. His archaeology concerns a notion of discourse, as described by him
in the following, as a particular method of "reading" texts and for it to be
understood it is necessary to first apply it to his texts. He says of the reading task -

A task that consists of not - of no longer - treating discourses as groups of signs

(signifying elements referring to contents or representations) but as practices that
systematically form the objects of which they speak. (Foucault 1995, p.49)

One of the difficulties in implementing this notion of discourse is that it is

dependent on Foucault's definition of a "statement" which he sees as not
necessarily a grammar or a structure but any configuration of symbols that is not
dependent on anything but itself (that is, once written they exist in their own
discursive field unconnected to interpretation or source.) Attempting to apply
Foucauldian discourse analysis to Internet texts (analysing using his discourse

28
types eg. The Unities of Discourse, Discursive Formations, The Formation of
Objects, The Formation of Enunciative Modalities, The Formation of Concepts,
etc.) is difficult if one also accepts his notion of the "statement" because we are
conditioned to a view of grammar as a set of rules not as a contextual arrangement
of signs.

The statement is not therefore a structure (that is, a group of relations between
variable elements, thus authorising a possible number of concrete models); it
is a function of existence that properly belongs to signs and on the basis of
which one may then decide, through analysis or intuition, whether or not they
"make sense", according to what rule they follow one another or are
juxtaposed, of what they are the sign, and what sort of act is carried out by
their formulation (oral or written). (Foucault, 1995 pp. 86 - 87)

The notion of viewing discourses as practices that form objects rather than signs
that convey meanings also requires a change of mind set if Foucauldian analysis is
going to be of value. Richard Rorty the pragmatist helps in this matter by bringing
Foucauldian discourse to earth when he said -

One might simply take Foucault to be saying, in the manner of Wittengstein,

that we should remind ourselves of something we already know quite well:
namely, that the way people talk can "create objects", in the sense that there
are lots of things which wouldn't exist unless people had come to talk in
certain ways. (Rorty1998, p.42)

The feminist writer Jana Sawicki defends these difficulties with Foucault's
discourse by applauding the fact that its slipperiness in fact incidentally proposes it
as a universal research method.

He would have rejected the view that the power of phallocentric discourse is
total. Instead, for Foucault, discourse is ambiguous and plurivocal. It is a site
of conflict and contestation. Thus, women can adopt and adapt language to
their own ends. (Sawicki 1991,p.1)

29
In fact the neutrality of his writing enables it to encompass all language use, the
"ambiguous and plurivocal" nature of Foucauldian discourse may be as valuable as
a methodological tool to uncover and contest meanings in jewellery course texts on
the Internet as it is for feminism or any other discipline.

In fact selected and interpreted writings of Michel Foucault have been used to
construct methodological tools for research in a number of ways on and off the
Internet, for instance a short research paper published on the Internet
"Technologies of the Self:" Foucault and Internet Discourse (1) analyses messages
to a chess newsgroup as discourse material using Foucault's "the ethical care of
self, roughly equivalent to the idea of self government" to devise an "online
fashioning of personal identity". The writer, Alan Aycock, says the title of this
paper refers to Foucault's notion of "technologies of self" as devices - mechanical
or otherwise - which make possible the social construction of personal identity. He
takes the Internet to represent one such technology of the self.

Although the direct interplay between text and discourse is channelled through
Foucault's "Care of Self" the seemingly benign Internet text is nevertheless
activated to identify the inner substance of the text - in the authors words, a
"romantic image of strength" and a "modernist image of skill". (Aycock 1998, p.2)

Precis of Selected Foucauldian Discursive Regularities Interpreted as

Methodology
Four of Foucault's six Discursive Regularities were selected as pertinent material to
construct methodological tools for a post-structuralist reading of the text in this
project. They were seen to encompass the capacity to identify and analyse
formations that could construct meanings unavailable to a Critical Discourse
Analysis. The selected regularities are listed and precised thus-

Discursive formations - These refer to the language formations in a text that

represent all the discourses that relate to, in this case, the object jewellery. From
these the contextual object can be defined and thus spoken into existence.

30
The formation of objects - This relates to how an analysis of the texts as "discursive
formations" can form the contextual "object jewellery" (beyond the physical and
commonplace) when it is being spoken about in a particular way.

The unities of discourse - These refer to what the texts are not saying by what is
said - what is (adapting Foucault) the "never said," the incorporeal discourse, the
voice as silent as a breath, the writing that is a hollow of its own mark" (Foucault
1995, p.25)

The formation of enunciative modalities - These probe the elements of association -

from where the "law" behind the discursive object emerges. Foucault makes some
suggestions on this eg. who is speaking, how are the institutional sites described
and what is the position of the subject of the discourse.

According to Foucault, looking at language as archaeology repudiates the notion

that particular "objects" may be generically labelled "jewellery" or anything else
for that matter if the discourse formations that formed them in different sites,
circumstances etc. mean that we may be talking about different things (objects). In
fact arbitrary language use may not allow us to talk about the object jewellery
universally because the languages spoken may be incommensurate.

Methodology for the Research

Overview
The Internet texts selected for analysis are statements made by the universities in
an effort to encapsulate the general nature of jewellery making they are offering to
potential students and the world at large. They precede more detailed information
about the jewellery course to which they are referring with the intention of painting
an attractive picture of all aspects of studying in that institution. They may also
incidentally reflect the biases of the staff, workshop facilities and the philosophical
relationship between design, art and craft. The texts are generally written in a non-
academic fashion, having more in common with the popular press than academia.
Nevertheless they do mean something because they are written with intention and
as they are often the first contact with the overall program they are alluding to they
are a worthwhile subject for analysis.

31
The first analysis is based on conventional structuralist Critical Discourse
Analysis (Norman Fairclough) which is applied to the verbatim text as it stands
from the Internet. This could reveal political, social and power differences that
would be valuable to a jewellery curriculum writer looking for a global
perspective.

I am arguing in this research that a Critical Discourse Analysis may not probe
deeply enough into the meaning of these texts (the obvious may not tell enough)
and that only an alternative methodology - one that views text and discourse
differently - has the capacity to elicit meanings hidden from conventional discourse
methodologies. Elements of Foucault's discourse methodology will be activated
for this task. This will be the third analysis. This of course, is hypothetical at this
stage as Foucault's post structuralist notion of discourse (that the "statement" is
radically contextual and therefore will change according to the circumstances,
field, time, etc) may render conclusions impermanent and confusing.

In order to use Foucault's discourse analysis it is necessary to extract formations

from the selected texts to which they can be applied. This will be the second
analysis and will be comprised of breaking up the texts from the six sites into
"common sense" categories - I am applying "my" tacit experience as a language
user and jeweller to these texts in an effort to elicit the particular meanings, biases,
directions, emphases, etc. that I considered to be the crux of the statement. By
doing this an initial semblance of difference between them may be shown. These
"common sense" categories are used as a basis (raw material) for the Foucauldian
Analysis.

The technique I will use for the Foucauldian analysis will be to appropriate four
statements from his "The Discursive Regularities" - Discursive formations and the
formation of objects, The unities of discourse, and The formation of enunciative
modalities - which I will apply to the words (taken from the Internet texts) in their
interpreted "common sense" analysis formations. I will be led by Foucault and
ignore the conventional "grammar" and treat each of the statements (under the sub-
headings chosen by me from the text) as a legitimate sentence. It may be possible

32
to place this result side by side with the conventional Critical Discourse Analysis
and compare and contrast the overlap and the differences or perhaps construct a
dialectic that will enrich the overall possibilities for meaning.

Analysis
I will apply the above by analysing each text in three ways thus, a reading using
selected approaches from the practice of Critical Discourse Analysis
(predominantly Norman Fairclough) (This will be my first analysis). A personal
reading (General Discourse Analysis) where I impose my substantial knowledge
of the subject on the text without an external or acknowledged analytical system,
(my second analysis) and the appropriation of selected tools from Michel
Foucault's "The Discursive Regularities" (third analysis).

Not only will I appropriate these tools derived from Foucault but I also will take
the liberty of reconfiguring them. In order to construct an understandable definition
of jewellery from each site I will bring together Discursive Formations and the
Formation of Objects to form the object jewellery prior to the Unities of
Discourse and The Formation of Enunciative Modalities (not Foucault's order)
so I can impose them on the previously constructed object jewellery. Discursive
Formations are the key words or groups of words that enable the object formation
to be written as a "sentence". The Formation of Objects is the object jewellery as
constructed from the result of interpreting the Discursive Formations. The Unities
of Discourse are interpretations of what are the texts not saying by what is being
said in reference to the constructed object jewellery and the Formation of
Enuciative Modalities the power behind the sites of the voice when they proclaim
their version of the object jewellery.

Application of the Unities of Discourse and the Enunciative Modalities

The Unities of Discourse
The risk when applying the Unities of Discourse is to lapse into a structuralist
semiotics methodology and take key words and invert them or make judgements
about the motives of the writers, assuming perhaps erroneously that they were
being in some way being deceptive. Foucault's approach may help - in the Unities
of Discourse he suggests that the spaces (the hollows) indicated by the word

33
symbol (the statement) may harbour the "truth". How can we extract the "truth"
from these hollows? Perhaps this quote from The Formation of Objects
(Foucault uses religion, the law, medicine and madness as examples) contains key
words that could be used to fill the hollows.

objects that are shaped by measures of discrimination and repression,

objects that are differentiated in daily practice, in law, in religious
casuistry, in medical diagnosis, objects that are manifested in
pathological descriptions, objects that are circumscribed by medical
codes, practices, treatment and care. Moreover, the unity of the
discourses on madness would be the interplay of the rules that define
the transformations of these different objects, their non-identity
through time, the break produced in them, the internal discontinuity
that suspends their permanence. Paradoxically, to define a group of
statements in terms of its individuality would be to define the
dispersion of these objects, to grasp all the interstices that separate
them, to measure the distances that reign between them - in other
words, to formulate their law of division. (Foucault 1995, p.33)

I will appropriate key words from the above quote from The Formation of
Objects and apply them to the object jewellery (and the discourses that constitute
them) from the data text in order to reveal the "never said". The words are
discrimination, repression, differentiation, manifestation, circumscription and
transformation

The application of these words to the essence of the text may reveal "the never
said."

Discrimination ~ what is being discriminated against by the use of this word or

term?
Repression ~ what is being repressed by the use of this word or term?
Differentiation~ what is being differentiated by the use of this word or term?
Manifestation ~ what is being manifested by the use of this word or term?
Circumscription~ what is being circumscribed by the use of this word or term?

34
Transformation ~ what is being transformed by the use of this word or term?

The Formation or Enunciative Modalities

These refer to the effect and impact the sites of the voice have on the veracity of
the texts. The question of where do the elements of association came from ("the
law behind the discursive object.") and who is privileged by that association is
pertinent to the analysis of any text.

For example - Who is speaking?

What are the institutional sites of the voice?
What is the position of the subject behind the discourse?

This is potentially a useful tool for analysis - the who, where and position (of
power) of the sources of the discourse will obviously play a role in how the object
jewellery is analysed and how the discursive voice is heard.

Who is speaking? The law is always conditioned by a voice, in social structures

usually the most powerful voice.

The law (or could it be described as (landscape) features in the field?) in relation to
the speaking voice as it plays a role in the formation of the object jewellery and
provides contextual meaning for the object.

The speaking voice, when referring to the object jewellery, forms a view based on
conditions eg. income, status and an educational model consistent with his/their
social position.

What are the institutional sites of the voice? The institutional site, in this case,
could be seen on two levels - (a) The university as a generic social institution that
ignores national borders and cultures and is so powerful that it can draw students
from entrenched physical, cultural and economic roots to accept alien
epistemological, psychical and social value systems in order to reap the benefits of
an university education. The voice emitted from the university is more powerful
than the lone voice although the lone voice that brings with it the imprimatur of

35
contact with the university is more powerful than a voice without it. (b) The
individual university as a social institution within a community is placed high in its
pecking order and therefore adds authority to any voice speaking from it. As an
institutional site it has the capacity to supersede rational decision making in regard
to the choice of training and education for jewellers. It may be more applicable in
some circumstances to train by doing an apprenticeship rather than a university
course but the power of the university site (especially the gaining of a degree) will
usually over-rule this.

The university site(s) provides an aspect of the law behind the discursive object
(the object jewellery) when it is used as part of its discursive formation. Its
association with the university site enhances the impact (far greater than if uttered
outside the academy).

What is the position of the subject behind the discourse - The subject may be seen
as that which acts, the object, that which is acted upon - The discourse is jewellery
(the object), the subject is he/she/they who is/are behind the academic discourse
and who is/are acting to empower it. The subject's position can be a powerful one
as it has the authority to act - that is shape the text in the context of the Internet
statement.

Evaluation
When the analysis is complete differences between the texts can be looked at from
three dominant perspectives - by university (looking at each site as an entity
ignoring as much as possible the influence of national cultures) and by country
(looking at pairs) for similarities and differences and by a country to country
comparison looking for national identities. The investigations could be expanded
to encompass a larger range of comparisons in the future.

Data
As this is only a minor thesis the limitations on its scope is obvious - to carry it out
in a comprehensive manner all sites from the three countries would need to be
included in order to accurately identify meanings and philosophies that would
clearly demarcate both national identities and intra-country differences. For this

36
small project I have only selected two sites each from three countries - the two
sites are located in areas separated by physical and cultural differences within the
country so they will be expected to simultaneously share and dispute
characteristics and features. This small sample may enable two things to occur 1.
It will test whether differences in texts can form different jewellery constructions
and 2. It will be an opportunity to test and hone the methodology, in fact reveal
whether it is of value as a discourse analysis tool.

The countries and the institutions are England - The London Guildhall
University in southern England and Sheffield Hallam University in the north -
USA - Syracuse University NY in the east and Humboldt State University in the
west and Australia - The University of South Australia southern central and The
University of New South Wales on the east coast.

Limitations of Study
The size of this project limits the possibilities of fully connecting text and practice
- there is a lot more written and said (on and off the Internet), in addition to these
brief introductory passages, that could reveal underlying assumptions and values of
the selected programs. These may support or dispute the findings of the study. It
merely offers an introduction and exposure to the questions raised by the transition
from industry to university.

There are also limitations to the extent the analysis of Internet texts can be
generalised to influence workshop practice - workshop activity is predominantly an
organic process that does not rely entirely on premeditated and rational decision
making - it can work or not work, on a given day, according to a number of
seemingly chance physical and psychic interactions.

There are limitations when interpreting textual analysis in relation to tacit learning.
Tacit learning is learning by demonstration, emulation, repetition, coordination of
hand and eye and experience - what is written and said is, to an extent, irrelevant.
It is possible to make a misleading evaluation of the worth of a course from the
very limited slab of text available on the Internet - experiential information would
be necessary if a more complete picture is to be established.

37
Chapter 4.
The Research - Dismantling the Edifice

The Research Process

The name of the country of origin, the university and the introductory text has
been taken from the Internet site and transcribed verbatim at the head of each of
the analyses.

The first analysis is a Critical Discourse Analysis (structuralist) and is written in a

conventional grammatical form. This is carried out so that a comparison between a
structuralist and post-structuralist discourse analysis is possible.

In the second analysis, the General Discourse Analysis (also called a "common
sense" analysis) I have imposed my experience as a jeweller, teacher and language
user on the text to extract word formations that are, in my view, its essence. They
are presented in note form as a list with headings and sub-headings. This analysis is
in second position so the simplified formations can be more easily scanned for the
Foucauldian analysis. The limitations of conventional grammar are thus
circumvented allowing the object jewellery to form from statements within the
text.

The third analysis is the Foucauldian analysis. This is written in a manner that I
consider to be consistent with Foucault's approach to language use - his notion of
the "statement" which he sees as not necessarily a grammar or a structure but any
configuration of letter symbols that is not dependent on anything but themselves
(that is, once written they exist in their own discursive field unconnected to outside
interpretation or source.) It is in four parts - discursive formations that are the
dominant formations extracted from the General "common sense" analysis. The
formation of objects where discursive formations are condensed to a single, not
necessarily grammatical, sentence enabling the "object jewellery" to be defined in
terms of the particular text under review. The so defined "object jewellery" is then
subjected to an interpretation of Foucault's unities of discourse (discrimination,

38
repression, differentiation, manifestation, circumscription and transformation) to
reveal what is not being said by what is written and finally the formation of
enunciative modalities (who is speaking, the institutional sites of the voice and
the position of the subject behind the discourse) to possibly reveal political and
power manifestations from the text.

The responses to the Unities of Discourse and Enunciative Modalities will be

articulated in question and answer form as it is considered that the question can be
as informative as the answer. It also affords the reader the opportunity to construct
an alternative to the answer chosen by the researcher.

The Research
ENGLAND
The London Guildhall University -
About the Course -
This is an exciting course which offers a flexible program of study designed to
enable students to adopt an imaginative and innovative approach to the subject of
silversmithing and jewellery.

It will appeal to students who have a particular interest in entering the broad arena
of silversmithing and jewellery as managers, designers, makers and creative artists
in fashion and accessories.

The aim of the course is to stimulate visual awareness, develop design and problem
solving abilities, improve knowledge and understanding of a broad range of
manufacturing processes and materials properties, and finally to provide
appropriate business and communicative skills.

The success of the course is evident in the large number of graduates who enter
employment, both at home and abroad, in a broad range of careers, including
designer/makers, design consultants, fashion and accessory designers, conservation
and restoration, museum work and production management.

All teaching staff are practising designers and/or makers, who enjoy the additional
support of a large number of high profile design consultants, artist/designers and
manufacturers on a highly focussed part time basis.

39
The professional profile of the teaching staff presents an exciting challenge to
students and brings a valuable sense of reality to the structure and delivery of the
programmes. The positive effect of this approach to teaching is evident in the
annual success of a significant number of students in national and international
design competitions.

Our reputation has facilitated the forging of links with a large number of overseas
institutions, and our undergraduate and post graduate students have the
opportunity to study and work on placement abroad under the European Union's
Socrates and Leonardo schemes respectively. (1998, pp.1-2)
.
Critical Discourse Analysis
I have looked toward Norman Fairclough's "Critical Discourse Analysis and the
marketization of public discourse: the universities" (Fairclough 1995, pp. 130-167)
as a model for a structuralist analysis of the above text. As a parallel issue I have
also considered the notion of intertextuality and its relationship to hypertext as the
study I am undertaking brings electronic texts from across countries and
institutions into one virtual place - as does the above text as it brings the disparate
texts of jewellery training, the market and internationalism to one location as an
intertext.

In the opening paragraph a marketing emphasis is articulated through the use of

contemporary marketing language (words such as exciting, flexible, imaginative
and innovative) while referring to the archaic industrial crafts of jewellery and
silversmithing. According to Fairclough this is an Interdiscursive Practice (rather
than intertextual) as it brings together the market and the practice of jewellery
making and silversmithing. He noted when discussing samples of advertising for
university courses -

Sample 1. Is interdiscursively complex, articulating together a variety of

genres and discourses, including elements of advertising and other
promotional genres. It is an illustration of one of the features of
promotionalized discursive practices I identified in the previous section - the

40
 generation of a new hybrid, partly promotional genres (Fairclough 1995, p,
142)

The text referred to "an imaginative and innovative approach" to the discipline as a
difference between this site and others although, as a practitioner, I know from the
practice of jewellery making or silversmithing, that the effect of a change in
"approach" is limited as the processes themselves are, in fact, organic and
internally directed.

The second paragraph ("It will appeal to students ---- accessories.") promotes
occupations - "managers, designers, makers and creative artists in fashion and
accessories" - as vocational outcomes of learning the skills of the jeweller or
silversmith. These outcomes can be gained through a number of other visual art,
fashion or indeed arts management pathways - not only those exalted in the text.
The association between technical skills implicit to jewellery making and the
commercial world is fragile. The Guildhall text links the two in order to gather
converts for an activity that intrinsically has only a limited impact on these
outcomes.
.
The traditional Art School has been reluctantly thrust into the world of the
corporation, no longer completely state funded it has to rely on other financial
sources to survive. Additionally prospective art students now expect to get a job
and be paid on completing a course - forcing the institution to become industry
aware whether they like it or not. In an effort to satisfy this demand the text in the
third paragraph ("The aim of the course ---- communicative skills") has linked the
traditional homogenous practices of the art school - "stimulate visual awareness,
develop design and problem solving abilities etc" - with "understanding of a broad
range of manufacturing processes" and "to provide appropriate business and
communication skills". Traditionally art and business abilities were mutually
exclusive; they have been linked in this text to promote the notion of the university
as a business and the student as a potential employer or businessperson.

The fourth paragraph ("The success of the course ----- and production
management") maintains this line by associating the "success" with undisclosed

41
employment numbers again citing categories of employment, unlinked to jewellery
and silversmithing, as examples. In the remaining paragraphs the connection
between the status of the teaching staff and "a valuable sense of reality" by way of
their professional involvement and profile is used in this text to cite "success
overseas" as an attraction for potential students.

General "Common Sense" Analysis

The following "common sense" interpretation of the above text is an analysis
resulting from allowing it to fall into logical categories. It is, of course, a discourse
analysis in itself but it will also be used as raw material for the Foucauldian
Discourse Analysis.

Course - exciting, flexible, imaginative, innovative, broad,

Employment - managers, designers, makers, creative artists, fashion and
accessories,
Educative - visual awareness, develop, problem solving, improve knowledge and
skills, understanding (manufacturing processes, material properties) business and
communicative skills,
Employment - success, employment, (home and abroad) broad range,
designer/maker, design consultants, fashion and accessory designers, conservation
and restoration, museum work, production management,
Instructors - teaching staff, practising, support, (from a large number of
artist/designers, manufacturers) part time,
Reputation - facilitated (forging of links, overseas institutions study and work
abroad)

Foucauldian Analysis
Discursive Formations and the Formation of Objects
Discursive Formations and the Formation of Objects - the discursive formations
that will form the object jewellery (and in this case silversmithing) as presented in
the Internet text from the London Guildhall University do not refer explicitly to the
act of making (arguably central to the experience in a craft based course) but rather
to other experiences, emotions, contacts and placement during and after the course.

42
Discursive Formations
Experiences - visual awareness, problem solving, broadening, improvement (of
knowledge and skills), understanding, success
Emotions - excitement, flexibility, imagination, innovation, success
Contacts - teaching staff, practitioners, supporters, facilitation
Placement - employment, designer/makers, design consultants, fashion and
accessory designers, conservators and restorers, museum workers, production
managers

Formation of Objects
The formation of the object jewellery according to the text offered on the Internet
by the London Guildhall University is - the layering of emotions over experiences,
contacts and placements in the world of work emanating from the practice of
making.

The Unities of Discourse

The Object Jewellery according to the above text - the layering of emotions over
experiences, contacts and placements in the world of work emanating from the
practice of making is placed beside Foucault's Unities of Discourse -
discrimination, repression, differentiation, manifestation, circumscription and
transformation.

Discrimination and the object - Q. What is being discriminated against by the

above object? A. The specificity of the corporeal and archaic act of making
jewellery and objects in metal in an industrial setting.
Repression and the object. Q. What is being repressed (held back) by the above
object? A. The joy of making for its own sake, making without exterior or external
motives (career, status etc.).
Differentiation and the object. Q. What is being differentiated (distinguished
between) by the above object? A. The object jewellery distinguishes between the
levels of social acumen of the participants of the program.
Manifestation and the object. Q. What is being manifested by the above object?
A. The manifestation (what is shown) is that a jewellery and silversmithing
education can lead to social and economic integration.

43
Circumscription and the object. Q. What is being circumscribed (restricted within
limits) by the object? A. The circumscription implied by the text is that the limits
of jewellery and silversmithing are bound by the outcomes of the process not the
process themselves.
Transformation and the object. Q. What is being transformed (altered) by the
object? A. Jewellery and silversmithing have been radically transformed from a
practice based on physical skills to a means of career placement.

The Formation of Enunciative Modalities

The Object Jewellery according to the text - the layering of emotions over
experiences, contacts and placements in the world of work emanating from the
practice of making is placed beside Foucault's The Formation of Enunciative
Modalities - "The law behind the discursive object" eg. Who is speaking, the
institutional sites of the voice and what is the position of the subject behind the
discourse?

Q. Who is speaking and the object? A. The speaking voice is formed by the
vested interests of those who depend on the recruitment of students to maintain
status and economic security; the speaker uses language to maintain a position that
is to his/her advantage.
Q. What are the institutional sites of the voice and the object? A. The institutional
site is, of course, an established university in London whose prestige would
enhance the impact of their object jewellery in the social and work world.
Q. What is the position of the subject (that which acts) behind the discourse in
relation to the object? A. The position of the subject is that of an internationally
significant entrepreneur.

Sheffield Hallam University - School of Cultural Studies - Metal Work and

Design
This course provides for and encourages diversity within a broad spectrum of
conceptual and practical work. The main study area is predominantly project
based, exposing students to a wide range of experiences which enable them to
develop individual skills to high a level.

44
By adopting a seminal approach to visual, tactile, technical and intellectual stimuli,
it is hoped it will foster an enquiring mind exploring the place that visual creativity
in design occupies in our environment.

We have extremely well equipped specialist workshops catering for 75 students.

There is extensive provision for working in wood, plastics, paper, and the use of
industrial metalwork techniques. These facilities considerably enhance the quality
of the course and contribute to its overall character. (1995, p, 142)

Critical Discourse Analysis

The above text could be described as assertive and demanding in its presentation.
Fairclough views language as a social practice when he says, "it is socially shaped
and socially shaping" (Fairclough 1995, p.131) and that the tension generated
between the two can be explored in a dialectical manner. The socially shaping
nature of the language used in the introductory paragraph ("This course provides
---- high a level") is highlighted in the statements "encourages diversity within a
broad spectrum" and "is predominantly project based exposing students to a wide
range of experiences which enable them to develop individual skills to high a
level" (the teaching workshop is a social space). The language shaping of the social
environment continues in the second paragraph ("By adopting ---- in our
environment.") especially when the confronting word "seminal" prefaces the
phrase "visual, tactile, technical and intellectual stimuli," in the hope that these will
"foster an enquiring mind exploring the place that visual creativity in design
occupies in our environment." Connecting an "enquiring mind" with the ability to
make this exploration is questionable as an enquiring mind may be frustrated by
engaging in the complex shaping of the visual environment (confronting power,
economic interests, etc.) of which it has little control.

The third paragraph ("We have ---- its overall character.") refers to the workshop,
the materials for working, and the relationship between them in respect to the
quality and character of the course. Fairclough, when discussing university job
applications talks about the institution "claiming authority over the identity of the
applicants" (Fairclough 1995, p.145) In this paragraph the institution is not
suggesting that the students or the curriculum predominantly shape the quality and

45
character of the course but rather invests it in the quality of the workshop facilities
and range of materials for use. The authority of the institution is thus asserted.

General "Common Sense" Analysis

A "common sense" interpretation of the Sheffield Hallam University text from the
Internet is structured below -
Aim - provides, encourages, diversity, broad (spectrum) conceptual and practical,
project based, exposing (students to a wide range of experiences, develop
(individual skills to a high level)
Cognitive - adopting seminal approach, (to visual, tactile, technical, intellectual
stimuli), foster (an enquiring mind), exploring (the place that visual creativity in
design occupies in our environment)
Facilities - extremely well equipped, specialist work shops, extensive provision for
working in wood, plastics, paper, industrial metal working techniques, facilities
enhance the quality of the course and contribute to its overall character.

Foucauldian Analysis
Discursive Formations and the Formation of Objects - the discursive formations
that will form the object jewellery as presented in the Internet text from Sheffield
Hallam University include practical and conceptual experiential skill development
married to cognitive growth with reference to the potential of the physical working
conditions to enhance them both.

Discursive Formations
Practical and conceptual skill development - provides, encourages, conceptual and
practical, project based, exposing students to a wide range of experiences, develop
skills to a high level.
Cognitive growth - seminal approach, visual, tactile, technical, intellectual, foster
enquiring mind, exploring the place that visual creativity in design occupies in our
environment.
Workshop - extremely well equipped, specialist workshop, extensive provision for
working in wood, plastics, paper, industrial metal working techniques, facilities
enhance the quality of the course and contribute to its overall character.

46
Formation of objects
The formation of the object jewellery according to the text offered on the Internet
by Sheffield Hallam University is - the integration of practical and conceptual
skill development and cognitive growth cultivated by a conducive working
environment.

The Unities of Discourse

The Object Jewellery according to the above text is - the integration of practical
and conceptual skill development and cognitive growth cultivated by a conducive
working environment is placed beside Foucault's Unities of Discourse -
discrimination, repression, differentiation, manifestation, circumscription and
transformation.

Discrimination and the object. Q. What is being discriminated against by the

above object? A. The tacit learning environment as a corporeal experience using
improvised and self constructed technical initiatives.
Repression and the object. Q. What is being repressed by the above object? A. The
opportunity for students to work intuitively and organically and to engage in
alternative modes of making.
Differentiation and the object. Q. What is being differentiated (distinguished
between) by the above object? A. The differentiation is between formal and
informal modes of learning jewellery making.
Manifestation and the object. Q. What is being manifested by the above object?
A. The manifestation (what is shown) is that jewellery is an intellectual, cognitive
discipline.
Circumscription and the object. Q. What is being circumscribed (restricted within
limits) by the object? A. The object jewellery is circumscribed within the limits of
the academic teaching workshop.
Transformation and the object. Q. What is being transformed (altered) by the
object? A. Jewellery has been transformed from an industrial craft to an academic
discipline.

The Formation of Enunciative Modalities

47
The Object Jewellery according to the text is the integration of practical and
conceptual skill development and cognitive growth cultivated by a conducive
working environment is placed beside Foucault's The Formation of Enunciative
Modalities - "The law behind the discursive object" eg. Who is speaking, the
institutional sites of the voice and what is the position of the subject behind the
discourse?

Q. Who is speaking and the object? A. The speaking voice is formed by those
within the institution whose interests are served by the presentation of the object
jewellery as an intellectual activity.
Q. What are the institutional sites of the voice and the object? A. The institutional
site of this voice is the traditional academic university.
Q. What is the position of the subject behind the discourse and the object? A.
The position of the subject is that of a reformer (taking jewellery from the
industrial to the academic).

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Syracuse University New York
The metalsmithing program leads to a B.F.A. and teaches students to manipulate a
variety of metals and tools for aesthetic ends. The flexibility of the curriculum
allows students to select the directions they wish their work to take, such as
jewellery making, silversmithing, blacksmithing, or processes that move across
these traditions. In fact, students are encouraged to experiment across media lines
so that traditional involvement with nonprecious and precious metals is mixed with
the exploration of plastics, woods, and gemstones.

Students in the program make objects that range from the highly functional to the
purely expressive. They are given individual workspaces and storage facilities and
study such metalsmithing techniques as forming, joining, moulding, stonecutting
and stone setting, and surface decorating. Related studies in the classical and
contemporary uses of materials and tools, rendering, drawing, and sculpture
provide topics for independent research and investigation.

Excellent studio facilities and attentive instruction from professional artists provide
a balanced experience in fine crafts making and industrial processes. Through close

48
contact with faculty members, students participate in frequent group and personal
critiques and are assisted in identifying and pursuing program and career
directives. The program in metalsmithing requires 129 credits. (1998, p.1)

Critical Discourse Analysis

This is a "socially shaped text" (one that encourages the student to shape the
learning environment) as the tenor of the language encourages students to shape
the social environment in which the smithing activity takes place. Throughout the
discourse the onus is placed on the students to construct a course consistent with
their own interests and chosen directions. The course "teaches students to
manipulate a variety of metals and tools for their own aesthetic ends". The
curriculum is described as flexible and allows students to select personal directions
and move across traditions. Students are encouraged to experiment across media
lines and explore materials as part of the learning process.

The language favours the self-directed individual offering them the option to work
from the "highly functional to the purely expressive" using supplied "individual
work spaces and storage facilities" as well as providing them with "topics for
independent research and investigation".

Although students have to "participate in frequent group and personal critiques"

they are framed in the context of assisting them "in identifying and pursuing
program and career directives".
As a text that sets out to attract potential students to the program and promote its
ideological position it is framed in language that would draw to it those with an
independent spirit and inclination toward self directed learning.

General "Common Sense" Analysis

A "commonsense" interpretation of The Syracuse University text from the Internet
is structured as below -
Teaches - manipulate, variety, aesthetic (ends), flexibility, select (directions), wish,
(their work to take), silversmithing, blacksmithing, jewellery making (or processes
across these traditions), experiment (across media), tradition, involvement (with

49
precious and nonprecious metals), mixed (with explorations of plastics, woods, and
gemstones)
Students - make objects (from highly functional to purely expressive)
They are given - individual (work spaces, storage facilities)
They study - metalsmithing techniques, forming, joining, moulding, stonecutting
and stone setting, surface decoration, related studies (in the classical and
contemporary uses of materials and tools, rendering, drawing, sculpture),
independent research and investigation.
Facilities - excellent (studio facilities), attentive (instruction from professional
artists), balance experience (in fine crafts making and industrial processes), close
contact (with faculty members), participate (in frequent personal and group
critiques)
Career - assisted, identifying, pursuing (program and career directives)

Foucauldian Analysis
Discursive Formations and the Formation of Objects - the discursive formations
that will form the object jewellery (and silversmithing and blacksmithing) as
presented in the Internet text from Syracuse University New York characterise the
object as an outcome of the individual action of creative actors who shape their
own learning environment.

Discursive Formations
Students encouraged - to manipulate, be flexible, select, wish, experiment, be
involved, mix, make.
Students study - a range of jewellery techniques through independent research and
investigation
Facilities and tutors - excellent, attentive, balanced, are in close contact,
participate, assist, identify.

Formation of Objects
The formation of the object jewellery according to the text offered on the Internet
by Syracuse University New York is - skills grounded in personal choice,
flexibility, experimentation, involvement, investigatory independent research and
physical and social relationships.

50
The Unities of Discourse
The Object Jewellery according to the above text is skills grounded in personal
choice, flexibility, experimentation, involvement, investigatory independent
research and physical and social relationships is placed beside Foucault's Unities
of Discourse - discrimination, repression, differentiation, manifestation,
circumscription and transformation.

Discrimination and the object. Q. What is being discriminated by the above

object? A. The notion that much of skills learning are carried out efficiently by step
by step instruction by direct technicist intervention in an organised program.
Repression and the object. Q. What is being oppressed by the object? A. The
value of the ability to follow specific instructions of a technical nature in order to
achieve a pre-determined result.
Differentiation and the object. Q. What is being differentiated (distinguished
between) by the object? A. The differentiation is between the capacity to learn
through direct instruction and the ability to be self-directed.
Manifestation and the object. Q. What is being manifested by the object? A. The
manifestation (what is shown) is that jewellery is derived from the process of self
and environmental exploration.
Circumscription and the object. Q. What is being circumscribed (restricted
between limits) by the object? A. The circumscribed is the limitation of jewellery
within the capacity of individuals to construct it according to their natural and
previously learned resources.
Transformation and the object. Q. What is being transformed by the object? A.
Jewellery has been transformed from technical knowledge transfer (from teacher to
student) to one of self-discovery.

The Formation of Enunciative Modalities

The Object Jewellery according to the text is skills grounded in personal desire,
flexibility, experimentation, involvement, investigatory independent research and
physical and social relationships is placed beside Foucault's The Formation of
Enunciative Modalities - "The law behind the discursive object" eg. Who is

51
speaking, the institutional sites of the voice and what is the position of the subject
behind the discourse.
Q. Who is speaking and the object? A. The speaking voice would be formed by a
single (or collection of) independently directed practitioner.
Q. What are the institutional sites of the voice and the object? A. The institutional
site would be an environment that promoted exploration within flexible
boundaries.
Q. What is the position of the subject behind the discourse and the object? A.
The position of the subject is that of a facilitator.

Humboldt State University

The Jewlery and Metalsmithing Program at HSU supports the belief that the love of
making art through self discovery is as important as the technical processes which
help give birth to art. The Jewelry Program seeks to set forth a positive working
atmosphere allowing student artists to discover their passion for creating
imaginative art forms, while developing their capability for intuitive deduction and
reasoning. Through creative exercises the student is exposed to various artistic and
technical challenges that develop an inquisitive mind, thus uncovering and freeing
the limitless reaches of their human imagination and personal vision.
Slides, movies, videos, and a program of visiting artists complement the teaching of
the Jewelry and Metalsmithing Program Head, David LaPlantz, to extend and
stretch the creative challenges and possibilities inherent within each person and
their metals/materials. (1998, p.1)

Critical Discourse Analysis

This is a text of passion and desire that reaches for the potential student's emotional
connection with the so-called joy of making. It, in fact, talks directly of love,
giving birth, passion and creation in the same breath as artistry and technical
challenges.

The notion of intertextuality pervades this text. Although intertextuality is a

complex phenomenon an aspect of its impact is pertinent to the analysis of the text
from Humboldt University. Fairclough when analysing a section of a pastoral letter
from a group of bishops objecting to the use of weapons of war on civilian targets
noted "What is striking from an intertextual point of view is the hydridization of

52
military/strategic discourse and theological discourse" (Fairclough1998, p.1) thus
producing a text that was both regulative and moral. The text was intertextual
because it simultaneously mobilised two discursive genres.

The Humboldt text also mobilises two genres of discourse (conforming to the
above aspect of intertextuality) by bringing together the discourse of passion and
desire which draws on primal emotions and the discourse of making which is
technicist in nature.

The dominance of the emotive over the technical is important in gaining an initial
picture of the nature of the world in the metals department of this university and
thus choosing it as a venue for jewellery and metals education and training.

General "Common Sense" Analysis

A "commonsense" interpretation of the text from Humboldt University is
structured as below -
Belief - in love of making, self discovery (important as technical processes give
birth to art)
Atmosphere - positive working, where they can discover their passion
Creating - imaginative art forms
Thinking - develop capability for intuitive deductive reasoning
Challenge - the student is exposed through creative exercises to artistic and
technical challenges
Mind - develop inquisitive mind uncovering and freeing the limitless reaches of
the human imagination and personal vision
Program - visiting artists and program head extend and stretch the creative
challenges and possibilities inherent in each person and their metals/materials

Foucauldian Analysis
Discursive Formations and the Formation of Objects - the discursive formations
that form the object jewellery, as presented in the text from Humboldt University,
construct an environment that generates emotional outcomes from the processes of
making jewellery.

53
Discursive Formations
Love - of making, discovery of passion, give birth
Self discovery - develop capability, artistically and technically challenged,
inquisitiveness of mind, extend and stretch the creative challenges,
Develop - the capability for intuitive deduction and reasoning, uncover and free the
limitless reaches of the human imagination and personal vision
Technical processes - positive working, technical challenges, each person and their
metals/materials

Formation of Objects
The formation of the object jewellery according to the text offered on the Internet
by Humboldt University is - A positive emotional involvement cultivated by the
process of creating and making using metals/materials.

The Unities of Discourse

The Object Jewellery according to the above text is a positive emotional
involvement cultivated by the process of creating and making using
metals/materials is placed beside Foucault's Unities of Discourse - discrimination,
repression, differentiation, manifestation, circumscription and transformation.

Discrimination and the object. Q. What is being discriminated against by the

above object? A. The notion that jewellery may also require and demand negative
emotions (anger, hate, etc.) for the process of creating and making to be successful
and satisfying.
Repression and the object. Q. What is being repressed by the above object?
A. A range of emotional responses necessary to fully engage in the process of
creating and making jewellery.
Differentiation and the object. Q. What is being differentiated (distinguished
between) by the object? A. The object is distinguishing between those who have a
natural propensity for positive emotions and those who have not.
Manifestation and the object. Q. What is being manifested by the object? A. The
manifestation (what is shown) is that jewellery making is a joyous activity.

54
Circumscription and the object. Q. What is being circumscribed (restricted within
limits) by the object? A. It limits jewellery creating and making within the ambits
of joy and celebration.
Transformation and the object. Q. What is being transformed by the object?
A. Jewellery has been transformed from a hard-nosed technical commodity based
activity to one of joy and pleasure.

The Formation of Enunciative Modalities

The Object Jewellery according to the text, a positive emotional involvement
cultivated by the process of creating and making using metals/materials is placed
beside Foucault's The Formation of Enunciative Modalities - "The law behind the
discursive object" eg. Who is speaking, the institutional sites of the voice and what
is the position of the subject behind the discourse?

Q. Who is speaking and the object? A. The speaking voice is formed through the
desire of those involved to work in an environment that cultivates pleasure.
Q. What are the institutional sites of the voice and the object? A. The institutional
site of this voice is a West Coast American freewheeling university campus.
Q. What is the position of the subject behind the discourse in relation to the
object? A. The position of the subject is that of a lifestyle transformer.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney College of the Arts - University of New South Wales
Jewellery and Metal
Studies in jewellery and metal include the teaching of object design using a broad
range of materials and potential outcomes. The history of both jewellery and object
design is long, complex and rich in humanity, having undergone a remarkable and
vital renaissance in recent times.

The course in Jewellery & Metal is primarily aimed at people who wish to become
practising artists and designers in the field. Graduates can establish
studio/workshops, either individually or on a co-operative basis from which to
design and make their own work. The work itself may take the form of one-off pieces
for gallery, small runs of production work to be placed in galleries or shops, design
for manufacture, or commission work. A combination of these is most usual.

55
Students investigate the cultural developments that have shaped the evolution of
jewellery and the designed object. Students are encouraged to develop the capacity
to critically assess their own work and that of others; and articulate informed
opinion. (1998, p.1)

Critical Discourse Analysis

The text sets out to make two points, the first and last paragraphs talk about
culture, history, humanity, rebirth, evolution and the way in which students are
integrated into this rich cultural fabric and relate to themselves and others through
critical assessment.

The centre paragraph is far more prosaic making matter of fact suggestions to
students about how and where they may work after graduation and what part of
their training they might sell in these venues.

When discussing contemporary western culture, Fairclough proposes the notion

that "contemporary culture has been characterised as "promotional" or "consumer"
culture". He suggests that this cultural consequence of marketization and
commodification - "the incorporation of new domains into the commodity market" (eg.
the "culture industries") has led to "the general reconstruction of social life on a market
basis." (Fairclough 1995, p.138)

Initially the two diverse statements in the Sydney text seem at odds with each
other, especially the way the two "cultural statements" are divided by an outline of
the vocational possibilities of doing the course until one realizes that this could be
interpreted as an attempt to sell "culture". Jewellery is defined by this academic
institution as a cultural product but in order to sell the idea to potential students it
has been commodified. Students are then invited to resell it, once it has been
acquired (from the course), as a commodity like any other product in the
marketplace.

56
General "Common Sense" Analysis
A "common sense" interpretation of the Internet text from the Sydney College of
the Arts is outlined below -

Studies - in jewellery and object design (using a broad range of materials and
potential outcomes
History - (of jewellery and object design) long, complex, rich (in humanity)
undergone a remarkable and vital renaissance in recent times
Aimed at - people (who wish to become) practising artists and designers in the
field
Graduates - can establish studios/workshops (individually or cooperatively)
The work - in the form of (one off pieces for gallery, small runs of production
work to be placed in gallery or shop), design (for manufacture or commission
work), or combinations of the above
Investigate - cultural development (that has shaped the evolution of jewellery and
the designed object)
Encouraged - to develop (the capacity to assess their own work and that of
others) to articulate informed opinions

Foucauldian Analysis
Discursive Formations and the Formation of Objects - the discursive formations
that will form the object jewellery as presented in the Internet text from the Sydney
College of the Arts are centred around the relationship between the cultural and the
vocational.

Discursive Formations
Cultural/historical formations - long, rich, complex, renaissance, cultural
development, evolution.
Studies - jewellery, object, designed object, one off pieces, production, critical
assessment,
Vocation - one off pieces, artists, designers, studio/workshops, gallery, shop,
manufacture, commission.

57
Formation of objects
The formation of the object jewellery according to the text offered on the Internet
by the Sydney College of the Arts is the interweaving of cultural and historical
imperatives and vocational possibilities through the act of making.

The Unities of Discourse

The Object Jewellery according to the above text is the interweaving of cultural
and historical imperatives and vocational possibilities through the act of making is
placed beside Foucault's Unities of Discourse - discrimination, repression,
differentiation, manifestation, circumscription and transformation.

Discrimination and the object. Q. What is being discriminated by the above

object? A. The possibility of vocation through other pathways eg. industrial
training.
Repression and the object. Q. What is being repressed by the above object? A.
The opportunity to create and make successfully through the acquisition of
technical mastery.
Differentiation and the object. Q. What is being differentiated (distinguished
between) by the object? A. The object is distinguishing between an intellectual
and artisan approach to making.
Manifestation and the object. Q. What is being manifested by the object? A. The
manifestation (what is shown) is that jewellery making is essentially a
cultural/historical activity.
Circumscription and the object. Q. What is being circumscribed (restricted within
limits) by the object? A. It limits jewellery making within a cultural/historical
context.
Transformation and the object. Q. What is being transformed by the object?
A. Jewellery making has been transformed from a practice embedded in technique
to one that is an aspect of cultural/historical significance.

The Formation of Enunciative Modalities

The Object Jewellery according to the text, the interweaving of cultural and
historical imperatives and vocational possibilities through the act of making is

58
placed beside Foucault's The Formation of Enunciative Modalities - "The law
behind the discursive object" eg. Who is speaking, the institutional sites of the
voice and what is the position of the subject behind the discourse?

Q. Who is speaking and the object? A. The speaker is one who is or aspires to be
an intellectual.
Q. What are the institutional sites of the voice and the object? A. The institutional
site of this voice is the jewellery-teaching workshop recently implanted in a
university setting.
Q. What is the position of the subject behind the discourse in relation to the
object? A. The position of the subject is they who intend to justify the placing of a
jewellery school in academia.

Faculty of Art Architecture and Design - University of South Australia

South Australian School of Art
The University of South Australia offers a three year course leading to the award of
Bachelor of Applied Arts - Ceramics or Glass or Jewellery Design - and a one year
course leading to the award of Bachelor of Applied Arts (Honours) which develop
the conceptual skills and practical ability required of a professional applied art
designer. The course includes studio practice, acquisition of technical information,
the development of manufacturing and fabrication skills and the application of
design principles in the development of projects. Studies in design, history and
theory support the studio practice throughout the course and electives enable the
applied artist to gain a broad education tailored to their interests. Applied arts has
professional majors in:

Ceramics and glass

Jewellery design (1998, p.1)

Critical Discourse Analysis

The above text is presented in the form of a description of what students actually
do when they participate in this applied arts course. The marketing of the course is
couched in an impersonal language style and although it is, of course, known that
the text emanates from a university it could be described as "agentless". Fairclough
uses this term when describing and comparing university course outlines from the

59
1960's and the 1990's. He described particular advertisements he looked at from the
60's as "impersonal and nominalizing" and presented on a "take it or leave it" basis.
(Fairclough 1995, p.155)

The University of South Australia text could also be analysed on that basis as the
personalised source (the agent) of the text has been written out leaving only the
"names" of the activities and procedures as a guide to prospective students.
Marketing directed at the personal (perhaps desire and vocation) is underplayed as
it is assumed that the prospective student will construct these from a personal
perspective using the raw descriptive text supplied.

The text also attempts to present two strands of craft activity simultaneously,
ceramic and glass design and jewellery design, making it necessary to write a
generic text that covers both activities without specifically mentioning either. This
may also have contributed to the impersonal and agentless nature of the text.

General "Common Sense" Analysis

A "common sense interpretation of the Internet text from the University of South
Australia is structured below -
Offers - three year course leading to (the award of Bachelor of Applied Arts -
ceramics and glass or jewellery design - and one year course leading to Bachelor
Applied Arts honours)
Aims - to develop (conceptual skills and practical ability required for a
professional applied art designer)
Includes - studio practice, acquisition of technical information, development of
manufacturing and fabrication skills, the application of design principles (in the
development of projects)
Studies in - design, history and theory (to support studio practice throughout the
course), electives (to enable the applied artist to gain a broad education tailored to
their interests)

Foucauldian Analysis
Discursive Formations and the Formation of Objects - the discursive formations
that will form the object jewellery as presented in the Internet text from the

60
University of South Australia, South Australian School of Art are about the
knowledge and skills required to be a professional applied art designer.

Discursive Formations
Knowledge and skills - studio practice, technical information, manufacturing and
fabrication, conceptual skills and practical ability,
Support studies - design, history, theory, electives
Incentives - Batchelor of Applied Arts, Bachelor of Applied Arts (Honours),
Professional Applied Art Designer,

Formation of objects
The formation of the object jewellery according to the text offered on the Internet
by the University of South Australia, South Australian School of Art is a
qualification through the acquisition of skills and knowledge.

The Unities of Discourse

The Object Jewellery according to the above text is a qualification through the
acquisition of skills and knowledge placed beside Foucault's Unities of Discourse -
discrimination, repression, differentiation, manifestation, circumscription and
transformation.

Discrimination and the object. Q. What is being discriminated against by the

above object? A. The possibility that the acquisition of skills and knowledge may
lead to intrinsic fulfilment.
Repression and the object. Q. What is being repressed by the above object?
A. Emotional involvement is being suppressed by this object jewellery.
Differentiation and the object. Q. What is being differentiated (distinguished
between) by the object? A. The object jewellery distinguishes between the sensory
and prosaic act of creating and making.
Manifestation and the object. Q. What is being manifested by the object? A. The
manifestation (what is shown) is that jewellery is a nominalising process.
Circumscription and the object. Q. What is being circumscribed (restricted within
limits) by the object? A. It limits jewellery within the bounds of a profession.

61
Transformation and the object. Q. What is being transformed by the object?
A. Jewellery making has been transformed from a sensory primal activity to a
branch of the professions.

The Formation of Enunciative Modalities

The Object Jewellery according to the text, a qualification through the acquisition
of skills and knowledge is placed beside Foucault's The Formation of Enunciative
Modalities - "The law behind the discursive object" eg. Who is speaking, the
institutional sites of the voice and what is the position of the subject behind the
discourse?

Q. Who is speaking and the object? A. The speaker is one who differentiates
her/himself from the text.
Q. What are the institutional sites of the voice and the object? A.The institutional
site of this voice is the source of endorsement for a rite of passage.
Q. What is the position of the subject behind the discourse in relation to the
object? A. The position of the subject is one who intends to deliver a body of
knowledge and skills to those who require them.

62
Chapter 5.
Sifting Through the Rubble

Introduction
The conclusions emanating from this analysis are considered as tentative primarily
because of the limited scope and depth of a minor thesis project. The project could
be described as a preliminary investigation for a research Masters or Doctorate
where a more substantial database and focussed analytical tools would ensure
greater confidence in offering conclusions.

The thesis question was probed and the problem and its importance narrowed to
primarily focus on the analysis of the language used and to extrapolate from the
results the effect this may have in forming craft (in this case jewellery) in academic
institutions. This could, in an expanded study, be compared to the historical
industrial model centred on the traditional apprenticeship system to help better
understand the changes that have occurred.

By taking two examples from three "western" countries I set out to see if the
introductory philosophical paragraph from these six sites had anything to say about
what jewellery was in these new contexts and how the universities have attempted
to validate craft as an academic offering. The project introduced the possibility of
making a comparison with an industrial training model but fell short of carrying it
out because a parallel study was not undertaken. The differences can only be
assumptions at this stage.

The Internet was used as source for these texts for several reasons - 1. It is
becoming the first port of call for those intending to study. 2. Potential candidates
are now, in the main, computer literate and use it as its nature dictates, not as a
novelty but as a different but legitimate means of gathering information. 3. It
harbours the possibility that information may show a different face when presented
electronically. 4. The fact that all these sites are contained in the one electronic
booklet and appear on the one screen may highlight the post-structuralist notion of
intertextuality and thus encourage readings to reflect on each other. Some sites may

63
be linked by hypertext - this could also induce a more integrated reading of the
texts.

A number of possible outcomes from the analysis could be hypothesised - for

instance gender specificity, colonization, shifts in relation to power and status, any
change in the relationship between theory and practice, the breaking of the
traditional nexus of the old and the new and the role of the workshop in academic
teaching. These may or may not be revealed in the analysis, indeed other
unpredicted outcomes may be teased out by it.

As the sites were selected in a particular way - two from each of three countries in
geographically separated locations - on the grounds that direct contact is minimised
(but Internet contact is not) and the effect of their common roots in the British
university tradition the only connecting thread. In order to establish conclusions I
looked at the results from individual universities, compared results within
countries and country results with each other although other comparisons could
have been made to elicit other similarities and differences.

The project also grew into a test bed for the evaluation of methodologies as well as
conclusions because of the researcher's inexperience and the open-ended nature of
post-structuralist research. An incidental evaluation of the methodology should be
an implicit part of the conclusions as it could affect the research results.

Tentative Conclusions
I will leave the Critical Discourse Analysis and the General "common sense"
Analysis to be read mainly from the research proper as the results of these analyses
are self descriptive - I will integrate them if they appear to be useful as a reference
or tool for a better understanding of the Foucauldian analyses.

Research Results - Individual Sites

The London Guildhall University -
It could be interpreted from this text that inner satisfaction, the human aspect of
making jewellery and objects, has been hijacked by the social and vocational
rewards of study as they are represented by this academic institution. It suggests

64
that jewellery making can be an avenue for social and vocational mobility (as this
site is an establishment institution with a long history, perhaps a traditionally
English preoccupation) by elevating a village craft activity to the realm of the
professions. It puts before the potential student that "doing jewellery" at the
Guildhall harbours the possibilities for an elevation and enhancement of power and
status.

Sheffield Hallam University - School of Cultural Studies - Metal Work and Design
There is a strong thread of good old-fashioned academic rigour running through
this text. Success as a jeweller is measured in this northern English institution not
in the social rewards implied by its southern counterpart but in the results of hard
work, discipline, cognitive engagement and intellectual and skill development.
Perhaps, I conjecture, an outcome of the tradition and culture of its location. The
jewellery object is integrated into academia by integrating theory and practice as a
model for teaching it in a university setting.

Syracuse University New York

Jewellery and learning to be a jewellery maker according to this site is the
manifestation of getting yourself together, getting down to it and reaping the
rewards of social involvement. The full gamut of jewellery experiences is offered
to the student in the form of a smorgasbord to explore and experiment and through
"finding oneself" via chosen jewellery making experiences become a self directed
jeweller (person?). The notion of independence is, of course, not exactly alien to
the North American culture in general or in its practice of visual art and craft but its
inculcation into a jewellery program with its high dependence on "competency
based" technical skills may produce some frustration in even the most
independently minded students.

Humboldt State University

This text implies that forming emotional/sensual relationships is a basis for
learning - the joy of sex meets the joy of jewellery making - and reminds us more
of what is said about the experience of wearing and using jewellery, and its
relationship to the body and emotions of the wearer, than making itself. It places
the technical process in the hierarchy of steps in making below the

65
personal/intrinsic values implicit in an act of creation, in this case jewellery
making. The text is in the form of an invitation for everyone to a joyous event
especially as it disregards conventional gender demarcation and therefore the
notion that jewellery is only about tools and machines and thus biased toward
traditional male interests.

Sydney College of the Arts - University of New South Wales

Jewellery and Metal
The implication that jewellery making and wearing is part of a nation's cultural
fabric and visual history is patently obvious in this text. Nevertheless it hasn't been
universally accepted by the academy as a legitimate area of study because it is also
a commodity, it is used as a vehicle to trade "precious materials" and generally has
a "low art" reputation because of its use in everyday symbolism. The Sydney text
seems intent on bringing these two ends of the jewellery spectrum together not
only because their blurring in contemporary theory is now considered (in material
cultural studies) but also as a marketing ploy to attract potential students to the
course. The text attempts to link the poetic and prosaic by discussing in the same
breath things like history, culture, evolution, etc. and the possibilities of
employment in the commercial marketplace.

Faculty of Art Architecture and Design

South Australian School of Art
The text is the statement of the "facts" of this course - a "professional applied art
designer" needs to do certain things in order to be named as such - the naming is,
in itself, the definition of the jewellery (and ceramic and glass) object as well as the
occupation of the maker. The professional vocational element of jewellery training
underpin this text suggesting to potential jewellery students that study is something
to get through in order to reap the rewards of being a "professional". It also
suggests that although what are needed is practice, technical information, skills and
design principles to achieve these ends the applied artist can also benefit from a
broader based education - seemingly the only link with the traditional interests of
the university.

66
Research Results - Country of Origin
England - The London Guildhall University - Sheffield Hallam University
Similarities
The similarities, except for the obvious (they both purport to teach jewellery), are
few between these two sites. The only overlap is in areas such as "enquiring mind"
(Sheffield Hallam) and "problem solving abilities"(London Guildhall).

Differences
The differences are marked by the obvious "marketization" approach of the
Guildhall and the emphasis on elevating the work and tools of trade of the jeweller
to a university activity at Sheffield. In contrast to the "exposure to the world"
approach of the Guildhall the sense of place at Sheffield is tightly localised, the
quality of the course seems to be judged from within the institution rather than in
the world at large.

The United States of America - Syracuse University New York - Humboldt State
University
Similarities
The similarities between these two sites is centred around the idea of "self
discovery" at Humboldt and the "selection of directions" at Syracuse although the
surrounding text separates the two somewhat in the manifestation of this similarity.
The value of exposure to a rich environment for jewellery making is also a
consistent theme suggesting that this may instigate love for the process at one site
and self direction (love of self) at the other.

Differences
The differences are in how the manifestation of these ends (joy of making and self
discovery) are achieved - at Humboldt there is little reference to the tools and the
technical means of making only the possibility of a joyous experience whereas at
Syracuse considerable space is given over to processes and techniques as the
means leading to self direction.

67
Australia - Sydney College of the Arts - University of New South Wales
Jewellery and Metal and the Faculty of Art Architecture and Design
South Australian School of Art
Similarities
Although the Sydney text overtly emphasises the range of employment possibilities
resulting from doing their course, Adelaide strongly alludes to it through the use of
the evocative words professional and applied art designer. There is a sense of
vocation present in both these texts although the means to that common end are
couched in different textual modes.

Differences
The source and style of the language used to suggest that a vocation is an outcome
of learning to make jewellery mark the differences between these sites. At Sydney
it is the participation as a player in the cultural and historical lineage of jewellery
making that is used to attract students whereas at Adelaide it is an outline of the
necessary professional skills and knowledge that is the draw card.

Research Results - Country to Country

Although the similarities and differences within countries as described above were
clearly defined there are overall comparisons implicit in the texts that can be made
across national divides.

England - The seriousness of the endeavour is a characteristic of both the English

sites although its manifestation in content differs - the Guildhall in regard to
employment possibilities and Sheffield within the course structure.
United States of America - Two overlapping strands of the American way are
consistent in these sites - Syracuse focuses on the highly regarded capacity of the
individual to be self-actualising and Humboldt the notion that the joy of self-
discovery and the idea that the development of intuitive reasoning can lead to a
state of freedom.
Australia - Although the two institutions come to a similar conclusion from
diametrically opposite angles (Sydney via culture and Adelaide through skills and
practical ability) they both promote the possibility of a professional practice after
study in a much more modest manner than The London Guildhall.

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Overview of Conclusions
An overview of this minor text analysis revealed marked differences in approach
by the universities as implied in the introductory passage on their web site. What
was consistent was the way they all alluded to the fact that to learn to be a jeweller
a student must spend long hours working at the bench within a text that spoke of
other things. Even without a formal analysis it would be assumed that this would
be the case, they are all universities and are therefore bound by the traditions and
core business of academia. Nevertheless the analysis, in its various forms, did
unearth a number of strategies for achieving this end, ranging from access to a
profession (jewellery making traditionally was a trade) to an invitation to be part of
a cultural and historical tradition somewhat like an arts degree. In contrast The
Revere Academy of Jewellery Arts (Revere 1999, pp.1-5) an United States private
trade type jewellery school when offering its wares on the web lists its titles as
techniques, levels and cost, implying a philosophy that suggests that the act of
making is jewellery.

The question of "what is jewellery?" as presented at the various university sites is

somewhat slipperier than at the Revere Academy because it is wrapped in text that
connects it to the interests and expertise available at that site. It would require
greater insights into staff profiles; facilities and the overall visual art programs in
these universities than presented in these texts to fully answer this question.

Significance of the Internet

The data for this project was deliberately drawn from the World Wide Web on the
Internet because of the relationship between intertextuality and hypertext. I am
suggesting that the notion of intertextuality is inescapable on the Internet not only
because of its parallels with hypertext but because all texts surveyed are now in the
same brochure, in a sense in the one electronic booklet - the World Wide Web - and
are therefore open to cross referencing and comparison. The texts are now read
differently, even though they appear to be written in a style reminiscent of hard
copy, as the dexterous use of the technology produces transparent overlays thus
forcing the texts into infinite relationships - in fact to effectively become a part of

69
each others reading as in hypertext. Their intertextuality is grounded in the
technology.

The movement across these texts is encouraged not only by the nature of the
electronic media but also by conscious attempts by web page constructors to make
links. Some of these links are through conventional hypertext (eg Tyler
Metalsmithing department in the USA is a hypertexted site) whilst others are linked
through lists of jewellery schools or special interest sites across the globe or
through open forums like Orchid which discusses all aspects of the jewellery world
including threads on jewellery schools and education.

A number of questions could be raised about Internet texts that may help in
unearthing their meaning by considering the interests and methods involved in
their construction. Although probing deeply into this aspect of the text is beyond
the scope of this study it is nevertheless of value to consider intertextuality and
hypertext as electronically induced post-structuralism and their relationship to the
post-structuralist nature of Foucault's notion of discourse especially his "Discursive
Regularities". It is this overlap which legitimates the research as the basic
assumptions underlying intertextuality, hypertext and Foucauldian discourse as a
practice, have common characteristics.

If Julia Kristeva's notion of intertextuality that suggests that all texts (even the most
prosaic) are in fact intertextual and are therefore a reflection of many voices is
accepted, then the jewellery texts I have chosen are not only constructed around the
common language use of jewellers and language from outside jewellery but also
from non-language texts such as physical objects. Intertextuality constructs these
texts whether they are read on the Internet or as hard copies or in some other
(verbal or non-verbal) form. A post-structuralist reading is not only a valid analysis
but also when it is specifically reinforced by the impact of hypertext on the Internet
its validity is highlighted. Kristeva wrote -

In the first place, there is the recognition that a textual segment, sentence,
utterance, or paragraph is not simply the intersection of two voices in direct
or indirect discourse; rather, the segment is the result of the intersection of a

70
 number of voices, of a number of textual interventions, which are combined
in, the semantic field, but also in the syntactic and phonic fields of the explicit
utterances. So there is the idea of this plurality of phonic, syntactic, and
semantic participation. (Kristeva 1998, p.2)

Hypertext according to George Landow "emphasises intertextuality in a way that page-

bound text in books cannot". (Landow, 1992 p.1) The physical nature of books, their
visibility and separation, tends to define them as discrete objects and therefore the
information so contained as homogenous and the paths taken through their
directives as linear. Because of this book technology limits the possibilities of
fully understanding "big picture" concepts that exist within all discipline
constructions, that is, a more complete understanding of a discipline can only be
gained by reading all the books in the field as they refer to each other. Through the
use of hypertext the linking of texts electronically is possible, the elimination of the
discrete book accomplished and therefore a broad and more comprehensive picture
of a discipline ascertained. When selected pages are printed they arrive as hard
copy in sequence selected by the user who in effect is writing a book for use at that
moment. The book can be rewritten quickly many times for many purposes.

Brief Evaluation of Project

The project overall was encouraging providing the limitations implicit in its brevity
and tentativeness with the methodology are factored into the equation.

Information and meaning not initially evident in a journalistic reading of the text
was revealed by a critical reading, general discourse analysis and a Foucauldian
analysis although it was not completely clear which of these methods was the most
fertile and whether they in fact influenced each other. As the methods tended to
become entangled so did the results.

The initial aim was to bring together my interest in the writing of Michel Foucault
and the necessity of raising important questions about the future of workshop based
craft teaching (in particular jewellery) especially in their new university setting. I
am not sure if this worked - I had to refocus on a post-structuralist approach as the
inclination to lapse into a structuralist reading had to be vigilantly resisted.

71
Although I don't think this necessarily affected the knowledge gained it did not
break as much new ground as a methodology as I would have liked. The limitations
imposed by a minor thesis limited the breadth and depth the methodology
demanded.

The original questions concerning the way universities promote workshop based
jewellery courses on the Internet and still remain consistent with their underlying
approach to education and intellectual life have been brought out into the open by
this project. As the results were varied in one sense but consistent in another
further work needs to be done in order to locate and isolate these similarities and
differences.

Value of Research
Writing a jewellery (and other workshop based) curriculum in the current climate
of change is a problematic enterprise especially in light of the demise of the
apprenticeship system and the inclusion of this type of education and training in
university and formal TAFE award courses. The globalisation of these courses
through the electronic net-work, the availability of rapid transport and the
interchange of students across national and cultural divides have meant that issues
relating to teaching are no longer only local in nature. The interaction of these
changes has demanded that courses be written with one eye on the local and
another on the international scene. Scanning the Internet while being aware of
inter-and hypertext is one way of doing this but it is still necessary for it to be done
with a discerning eye otherwise the messages it contains may be misinterpreted. A
discourse analysis, as attempted in this research, is a strategy that is viable for
doing this as it has the potential to uncover meanings and ideologies that can be
counted or discounted when a local curriculum is to be written.

The information gained from such research, as rudimentary as it is, has proven to
be valuable in proposing a philosophical underpinning for a course that deals with
current international issues and the new openings and limits intrinsic to academia.

72
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