Abstract
This session offers a global perspective on the universal bond between women and their purses and other women. Purses are literally middle-objects connecting a person with another one or shielding a person from others. They facilitate feminine communication and are a vehicle of transition and transformation in women’s life. Purses can bridge spatial separations, transport objects and information from one place to another, and bridge time and convey ideas, values and styles from another time as historical and recent examples will exemplify. Given the increasing diversity of women’s roles in private, public and professional spheres, purses have to fulfill a diverse set of roles and functions. The psychological analysis is based on 150 purse stories that have been collected in 17 cities on all continents by an organic network of small agencies specialized on qualitative research in desk research, focus groups, in-depths interviews, participating observation and moderated purse parties. The deliverables reached from weblogs, chat sessions, photo and video reports, audiotapes, transcripts up to actual content analysis of respondents’ purses. The key insights from the psychological analysis of the functions of purses as media in feminine discourse will be enriched by the semiotic analysis of nethnography based on purse stories actively sourced from social media. An interactive and agile workshop with participants (max. 30) and their purses is envisaged for this conference. Two-three short sprints in varying small teams, moderated by an agile coach, will bring the findings to life.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Feminine discourse, Semiotics, Symbolic consumption
