Social Spheres
The Production of Temporalities at Sea: Experiencing Time Amongst Filipino Seafarers on Board Merchant Vessels
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nelson Turgo
The re-organisation and re-structuring of time brought about by changes in the global economy, spatial relationships, and technological innovations have an impact on the way people live, affecting social relationships, and experiencing of temporalities. Much has been written about the texture and production of temporalities ashore, however, people who work on merchant vessels have generated very little interest in terms of understanding their temporal existence. Such elision, sidelines a crucial aspect of time reckoning, as it were, in contemporary work and living spaces which could prove beneficial in enriching our appreciation and understanding of the complexities of temporalities of everyday life. This study, based on three voyages on merchant vessels for a period of five weeks each and interviews with Filipino seafarers in various ports and training centres in the UK and the Philippines, looks at this lacunae – the everyday experiencing of time of Filipino seafarers at sea. It offers some interesting insights into how time is both experienced on the fast and slow lanes, as it were, providing us much insight into the complexities of temporal production in contemporary society.
Networks and Reaplicability of Social Technologies: A Comparative Study in Four Latin American Countries
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Juliana Leite, Beatriz Ribeiro, Gabriel Reis, Maria Gabriela Santana
In the search for inclusive technological solutions, which represent an effective social transformation for the different local realities, there is the so-called Social Technology (ST). One prominent dimension of ST is its reapplicability, that is, the potential of a technology to be adapted and applied to different contexts. Another important characteristic is that ST are developed and implemented with the social participation of multiple actors - public sector, universities, civil society organizations, and the local community itself - which gives it a network character. In this sense, the present research seeks to understand the impact of networks (structure and dynamics) on the potential for re-application of a social technology. For this, we analyze cases of social technology in the field of Agriculture and Food, in four Latin America countries: Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia. In preliminary research, cases were identified for analysis in these countries. The research is expected to contribute to scientific production in the field of social technologies as well as networks, generating knowledge that will be disseminated through academic publications.
Embedded Meaning: Methods of Escaping Mythologization in Architectural Theory and Process
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Scott Crisman Sworts, Patrick Dey
Throughout history, architecture has built from a mythologized language and at its core, it exists as an inheritor of the ancient art of storytelling. To draw from Karen Armstrong, architecture has always concerned itself with meaning and it is that meaning that grants architecture authenticity. Architecture divorced from meaning is thought to be a story without a plot, a random collection of shapes and forms. Because of this fact, in architectural theory and discourse there is always present a layer of mythologized language—a meta-language, so to speak—that gives added meaning to the design. The term “mythologization” can be applied to the inevitable process by which the architect formulates their narrative and establishes their canon of style, form, and function that justifies their vision of the built environment. This mythologization of architecture has been a struggle for some architects as they try to resist or deny (escape from) its presence, while for others it has been a mythic cover, a layer of imitation that leaves the architecture with a false identity. This concept of "escape to" and "escape from" was first defined by Erich Fromm in his ground breaking work "Escape from Freedom, which can be applied to architecture. Since architecture cannot seem to escape mythologization, inevitably the question arises: why cannot architectural theory and process of design escape myth? This paper explores the struggles of architecture to express or attempt to deny the larger social context into which it is embedded.
