El estudio de las atmósferas de lugar resulta de relevancia pues permite que nos interioricemos e... more El estudio de las atmósferas de lugar resulta de relevancia pues permite que nos interioricemos en una serie de aspectos de la relación entre la subjetividad y el lugar; especialmente los procesos de cambio en el espacio urbano y las posibilidades de que este cambio sea intencionalmente direccionado. En este artículo analizo cómo la curatoría de mercados de comida requiere el uso de diferentes conocimientos culturales y estéticos que capitalizan el vasto proceso de gentrificación en áreas clave de Londres (Reino Unido) para crear una atmósfera de lugar y, con ello, generar pertenencia y exclusión. Este trabajo explora específicamente cómo los organizadores de espacios comerciales, como intermediarios culturales o “curadores”, usan su gusto específico para crear mercados pop-up de comida callejera. La curatoría implica un cuidadoso proceso de diseño y un acomodo de diferentes elementos materiales, afectivos y sensoriales. Esto incluye la selección de vendedores de comida de cocinas particulares y de la distribución y flujos en el espacio del mercado para atraer ciertas audiencias. Este artículo utiliza hallazgos de una etnografía realizada en 2014 y 2015 para narrar el caso de Vibes Feast, una empresa que organiza mercados nocturnos en Londres en áreas como Dalston, Lewisham y Battersea. Hago uso del caso del mercado de Lewisham en el sureste de Londres, para ilustrar el trabajo curatorial de los organizadores de mercados. Analizo sus prácticas de trabajo y proceso de toma de decisiones para entender cómo la curatoría de este tipo de mercados es una práctica relevante en la creación de atmósferas de lugar para el consumo y la integración de un público de clase media alta acomodada, excluyendo al resto.
Alternative currencies are not a new phenomenon, they can be dated back to the 17th century when ... more Alternative currencies are not a new phenomenon, they can be dated back to the 17th century when copper ‘Merchant Tokens’ were minted by merchants to overcome a shortage of change. Fast forward to the Great Depression of the 1930s, and an Austrian town called Wörgl which issued Freigeld to kickstart the economy, a project that was eventually shut down by the Austrian Central Bank. More modern times have seen ideas such as LETS, a UK-based bartering system which started in the late 1980s but is now in decline. According to Hileman, these three cases illustrate the three most common causes of the death of alternative currencies: death by technology, death by regulation and death through lack of demand.
The objective of this research was to analyze the impact of tourism and the management of tourist... more The objective of this research was to analyze the impact of tourism and the management of tourist activity; as well as evaluate the management and coordination in the tourism sector of Huaraz; In addition to formulating proposals to strengthen networking and collaboration, the research was exploratory, descriptive and non-experimental developed between 2018 and 2020 that used a mixed methodology. Field work was carried out in the city of Huaraz, Peru between August and November 2019 with the application of a survey (N=266) and in-depth interviews (N=17) with tour operators, hotels, restaurants, transportation companies and public authorities, in addition to holding a focus group with mountain guides. In the theoretical framework, different definitions of collaboration and how it manifests itself in different forms of organization are discussed. Then, based on the collection of information, different problems of collaboration in the industry are discussed, such as the lack of regulation of informality and supervision, duplication of activities, lack of promotion of destinations, and the need for a better quality of service provision. coordinated between different companies, as well as the care of the environment by the chain of tourism service providers. Finally, the article discusses some ideas for creating collaboration networks that can take care of these difficulties.
El estudio de las atmósferas de lugar resulta de relevancia pues permite que nos interioricemos e... more El estudio de las atmósferas de lugar resulta de relevancia pues permite que nos interioricemos en una serie de aspectos de la relación entre la subjetividad y el lugar; especialmente los procesos de cambio en el espacio urbano y las posibilidades de que este cambio sea intencionalmente direccionado. En este artículo analizo cómo la curatoría de mercados de comida requiere el uso de diferentes conocimientos culturales y estéticos que capitalizan el vasto proceso de gentrificación en áreas clave de Londres (Reino Unido) para crear una atmósfera de lugar y, con ello, generar pertenencia y exclusión. Este trabajo explora específicamente cómo los organizadores de espacios comerciales, como intermediarios culturales o “curadores”, usan su gusto específico para crear mercados pop-up de comida callejera. La curatoría implica un cuidadoso proceso de diseño y un acomodo de diferentes elementos materiales, afectivos y sensoriales. Esto incluye la selección de vendedores de comida de cocinas particulares y de la distribución y flujos en el espacio del mercado para atraer ciertas audiencias. Este artículo utiliza hallazgos de una etnografía realizada en 2014 y 2015 para narrar el caso de Vibes Feast, una empresa que organiza mercados nocturnos en Londres en áreas como Dalston, Lewisham y Battersea. Hago uso del caso del mercado de Lewisham en el sureste de Londres, para ilustrar el trabajo curatorial de los organizadores de mercados. Analizo sus prácticas de trabajo y proceso de toma de decisiones para entender cómo la curatoría de este tipo de mercados es una práctica relevante en la creación de atmósferas de lugar para el consumo y la integración de un público de clase media alta acomodada, excluyendo al resto.
This paper explores the curatorial practices of market organisers and presents an account of the ... more This paper explores the curatorial practices of market organisers and presents an account of the process of staging atmospheres (Bille, Bjerregaard and Sorensen, 2014) in pop up street food markets in London. Specifically, I argue that the curation of markets demands the orchestration and negotiation of different material and immaterial elements to form a specific atmosphere, such as the selection of food traders with particular cuisines, the layout and infrastructure, design, aesthetic and sensorial elements (colours, smells, sounds) of place as well as organiser’s socioeconomic knowledge and awareness about audiences. In this analysis, I am considering the work of market organisers as cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu, 1984) or curators (Hracs, 2014) in terms of their use of taste and calculations or qualifications (Callon, 1998; Entwistle, 2009) to assemble knowledge, material forms and spatial elements, and to configure a specific sense of place and a distinctive style of street food markets. Drawing on ethnographic research including interviews with market organisers about the different curatorial processes and staging of atmospheres, I present two street food markets as case studies: a pop up lunch time market outside The Gherkin building in The City of London, and a night market in Lewisham, South East London. The selection of these markets, which have different purposes and audiences, allows me to investigate the curatorial work of staging atmospheres and contributes to an understanding of how the curation of street food markets is a relevant practice in the generation of ‘tasted’ places in London.
Este artículo indaga cómo las prácticas de ocio generan apropiaciones del espacio urbano, en el c... more Este artículo indaga cómo las prácticas de ocio generan apropiaciones del espacio urbano, en el caso de mujeres habitantes del Cerro Cordillera en la ciudad de Valparaíso, Chile. A partir de una aproximación etnográfica de situaciones de la vida cotidiana de un grupo de mujeres del cerro, se develan tres grupos de prácticas socioespaciales vinculadas al ocio: las comunitarias, las personales y las colectivas. Las primeras abordan la participación de mujeres en el trabajo de recuperación de espacios descartados de la ciudad, como sitios eriazos, quebradas y lugares deteriorados, para ser utilizados como espacio público para el barrio. Las segundas, corresponden a prácticas personales en donde se exploran relaciones más íntimas entre el ocio y la ciudad; como el paseo o la utilización de calles como miradores. Finalmente, las practicas colectivas son aquellas donde las mujeres crean redes de amistad y cuidado a través del ocio. El artículo expone otras vías de análisis para la producc...
This research is an ethnography about the curation of the street food scene in London that looks ... more This research is an ethnography about the curation of the street food scene in London that looks at processes of cultural calculation to make markets and to assemble marketplaces. The main research question that is guiding this thesis is how is the street food scene in London being curated? This inquiry follows previous research in cultural economies in different scenes of cultural production like advertising, fashion or music (Du Gay and Pryke, 2002; Slater, 2002a; Entwistle, 2006, 2009; McFall, 2002, 2009, 2013; Ariztia, 2015; Negus, 2002; Law, 2002; McRobbie, 2016; Arriagada, 2014; Arriagada and Cruz, 2014). I am focussing on the idea of curation as analytical vehicle to understand the work of cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu, 1984) as a process of value generation, in which they culturally calculate markets (Callon, 1998; Callon, Meadel and Rabeharisoa, 2002; Slater 2002a) and assemble marketplaces (Farias, 2010; McFarlane, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c) by putting together knowledge, pe...
This is the first of two posts relating to the Sociology Forum event on 15th January, a panel dis... more This is the first of two posts relating to the Sociology Forum event on 15th January, a panel discussion on Bitcoin and alternative currencies. Here, we offer a brief introduction in preparation for the event and share some interesting resources and articles about Bitcoin and alternative currencies from a variety of sources. We will follow this up with a summary of the discussion, which will be trying to uncover what is sociologically interesting about the Bitcoin phenomenon.
Abstract Concern around personal safety is a significant factor in constraining women’s access to... more Abstract Concern around personal safety is a significant factor in constraining women’s access to and use of public space. One strategy presented to address this involves altering the design of built environments. However, tension and controversy surround these arguments in the literature on safety perception in public space. This study seeks to explore whether the presence of three design interventions commonly cited in the literature act to enhance or reduce perceptions of safety in public space, focusing on women’s experiences in particular. Three design interventions are examined: public toilets, solid walls, and graffiti removal. To test these interventions, an image-based randomised control trial with 104 participants was conducted in 2018 in London (UK). A series of control and treatment images simulating each design intervention was viewed and ranked by participants according to perceived safety. The findings of this study suggest that: the presence of public toilets does not affect perceived safety; eliminating graffiti has a weak significant impact on perceived safety; and removing solid walls leads to significant improvements of perceptions of safety, with the effect being stronger for women. These results suggest that to maximise investment effectiveness, urban design and planning policies that aim to increase perceptions of safety should be evidence-based, and need to integrate a gendered perspective. The presented technique could support urban design processes by examining the safety-enhancement impact of proposed public space interventions prior to their being rolled out.
This article focusses on the work of street-food market organizers in London as a design practice... more This article focusses on the work of street-food market organizers in London as a design practice. The argument is based on ethnographic research about the curation of the street-food scene, which aimed at understanding how market organizers created markets as economic entities and design marketplaces as urban forms. Space, objects, people, aesthetics, and atmospheres were designed into a marketplace with distinctive qualities. As such, market designers perform an important role as urban actors. They not only design the qualities of place but also use them to create inequalities in the street-food scene and the urban realm more widely.
The creation of atmospheres in places of consumption and leisure activities in everyday life is a... more The creation of atmospheres in places of consumption and leisure activities in everyday life is a relevant element for the work of creative industries. This paper gives an insight into my doctoral research “The configuration of the Street Food Scene in London” and explores the creation of atmospheres in public events and how these atmospheres are being performed. In this presentation I will argue about the curation of vibes, a process that describes the generation of a particular sensory experience configured by material and immaterial elements, and that constitutes a distinctive practice among street food markets’ producers. I will use the preliminary findings of my ethnography to narrate the case of a pop up night market in Lewisham, South East London, a formerly abandoned semi-cover market with units selling gourmet preparations, micro-diners, bars and DJ’s, a destination and scenario where young people and families were enjoying their summer evenings. This account will point out...
Extract of my dissertation for the MSc in Culture and Society, LSE. This document contains the ta... more Extract of my dissertation for the MSc in Culture and Society, LSE. This document contains the table of contents and introduction.
La investigación realizada es un estudio exploratorio de las comunidades virtuales como fenómeno ... more La investigación realizada es un estudio exploratorio de las comunidades virtuales como fenómeno cultural cuyo objetivo específico es analizar la representación social del sexo pagado en la comunidad virtual La Estokada, entendiendo cuáles son las informaciones, las actitudes y el campo de representación asociados a aquella representación social. Available online in spanish http://www.tesis.uchile.cl/tesis/uchile/2009/cs-concha_p/pdfAmont/cs-concha_p.pdf
The next article uses statistical data and a brief conceptual consideration to illustrate the imp... more The next article uses statistical data and a brief conceptual consideration to illustrate the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on teenagers and pre-teenagers. Data from the CASEN 2003 socioeconomic survey as well as theoretical considerations are employed to measure youngster’s accesses to ICT and its use. Besides, some conceptual elements related to the use of ICT as part of «youngster’s digital culture» are presented.
Este artículo indaga cómo las prácticas de ocio generan apropiaciones del espacio urbano, en el c... more Este artículo indaga cómo las prácticas de ocio generan apropiaciones del espacio urbano, en el caso de mujeres habitantes del Cerro Cordillera en la ciudad de Valparaíso, Chile. A partir de una aproximación etnográfica de situaciones de la vida cotidiana de un grupo de mujeres del cerro, se develan tres grupos de prácticas socioespaciales vinculadas al ocio: las comunitarias, las personales y las colectivas. Las primeras abordan la participación de mujeres en el trabajo de recuperación de espacios descartados de la ciudad, como sitios eriazos, quebradas y lugares deteriorados, para ser utilizados como espacio público para el barrio. Las segundas, corresponden a prácticas personales en donde se exploran relaciones más íntimas entre el ocio y la ciudad; como el paseo o la utilización de calles como miradores. Finalmente, las practicas colectivas son aquellas donde las mujeres crean redes de amistad y cuidado a través del ocio. El artículo expone otras vías de análisis para la producción social del espacio público, mostrando cómo las esferas de lo personal y lo comunitario se vinculan a través del ocio, reivindicando a su vez, las prácticas y estrategias de apropiación espacial de las mujeres.
This post by doctoral researcher, Paz Concha, summarises the presentation and main discussion of ... more This post by doctoral researcher, Paz Concha, summarises the presentation and main discussion of the Ethnography panel chaired by Suzi Hall. Mona Sloane (first year PhD) started the session by presenting an ANT-critique developed in her MSc dissertation (Culture and Society 2011/2012) and how this critique has informed the main research questions for her PhD project. Core to the presentation was the question of how to bring materialities to the forefront of ethnographic research, in her case ethnographic research in an urban design practice.
In Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries, Angela McRobbie addresses how the ... more In Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries, Angela McRobbie addresses how the encouragement to foster one’s ‘creativity’ as a set of capacities or skills necessary for professional success is entwined with the rise in freelance, temporary and low-paid labour. Drawing upon McRobbie’s extensive contributions to the field of cultural and creative industries, this book underscores the contemporary link between creative work and precarity, but also offers hope for future change, writes Paz Concha.
In a recent edition of The Guardian, there was a story about the privatisation of Berwick Street ... more In a recent edition of The Guardian, there was a story about the privatisation of Berwick Street Market, an historic London market in the heart of Soho. Stallholders are protesting at the council’s decision to bring in a “commercial operator” to manage the market. Why would the council would do that? Not only for efficiency reasons, but as a councillor mentions, the market needs to “wash its face”. Bringing in a market organiser for Berwick Street is a way of changing the look and feel of the market and the area; as a market campaigner says in the article “the reinvention of markets has got to be done in a curated way”.
El estudio de las atmósferas de lugar resulta de relevancia pues permite que nos interioricemos e... more El estudio de las atmósferas de lugar resulta de relevancia pues permite que nos interioricemos en una serie de aspectos de la relación entre la subjetividad y el lugar; especialmente los procesos de cambio en el espacio urbano y las posibilidades de que este cambio sea intencionalmente direccionado. En este artículo analizo cómo la curatoría de mercados de comida requiere el uso de diferentes conocimientos culturales y estéticos que capitalizan el vasto proceso de gentrificación en áreas clave de Londres (Reino Unido) para crear una atmósfera de lugar y, con ello, generar pertenencia y exclusión. Este trabajo explora específicamente cómo los organizadores de espacios comerciales, como intermediarios culturales o “curadores”, usan su gusto específico para crear mercados pop-up de comida callejera. La curatoría implica un cuidadoso proceso de diseño y un acomodo de diferentes elementos materiales, afectivos y sensoriales. Esto incluye la selección de vendedores de comida de cocinas particulares y de la distribución y flujos en el espacio del mercado para atraer ciertas audiencias. Este artículo utiliza hallazgos de una etnografía realizada en 2014 y 2015 para narrar el caso de Vibes Feast, una empresa que organiza mercados nocturnos en Londres en áreas como Dalston, Lewisham y Battersea. Hago uso del caso del mercado de Lewisham en el sureste de Londres, para ilustrar el trabajo curatorial de los organizadores de mercados. Analizo sus prácticas de trabajo y proceso de toma de decisiones para entender cómo la curatoría de este tipo de mercados es una práctica relevante en la creación de atmósferas de lugar para el consumo y la integración de un público de clase media alta acomodada, excluyendo al resto.
Alternative currencies are not a new phenomenon, they can be dated back to the 17th century when ... more Alternative currencies are not a new phenomenon, they can be dated back to the 17th century when copper ‘Merchant Tokens’ were minted by merchants to overcome a shortage of change. Fast forward to the Great Depression of the 1930s, and an Austrian town called Wörgl which issued Freigeld to kickstart the economy, a project that was eventually shut down by the Austrian Central Bank. More modern times have seen ideas such as LETS, a UK-based bartering system which started in the late 1980s but is now in decline. According to Hileman, these three cases illustrate the three most common causes of the death of alternative currencies: death by technology, death by regulation and death through lack of demand.
The objective of this research was to analyze the impact of tourism and the management of tourist... more The objective of this research was to analyze the impact of tourism and the management of tourist activity; as well as evaluate the management and coordination in the tourism sector of Huaraz; In addition to formulating proposals to strengthen networking and collaboration, the research was exploratory, descriptive and non-experimental developed between 2018 and 2020 that used a mixed methodology. Field work was carried out in the city of Huaraz, Peru between August and November 2019 with the application of a survey (N=266) and in-depth interviews (N=17) with tour operators, hotels, restaurants, transportation companies and public authorities, in addition to holding a focus group with mountain guides. In the theoretical framework, different definitions of collaboration and how it manifests itself in different forms of organization are discussed. Then, based on the collection of information, different problems of collaboration in the industry are discussed, such as the lack of regulation of informality and supervision, duplication of activities, lack of promotion of destinations, and the need for a better quality of service provision. coordinated between different companies, as well as the care of the environment by the chain of tourism service providers. Finally, the article discusses some ideas for creating collaboration networks that can take care of these difficulties.
El estudio de las atmósferas de lugar resulta de relevancia pues permite que nos interioricemos e... more El estudio de las atmósferas de lugar resulta de relevancia pues permite que nos interioricemos en una serie de aspectos de la relación entre la subjetividad y el lugar; especialmente los procesos de cambio en el espacio urbano y las posibilidades de que este cambio sea intencionalmente direccionado. En este artículo analizo cómo la curatoría de mercados de comida requiere el uso de diferentes conocimientos culturales y estéticos que capitalizan el vasto proceso de gentrificación en áreas clave de Londres (Reino Unido) para crear una atmósfera de lugar y, con ello, generar pertenencia y exclusión. Este trabajo explora específicamente cómo los organizadores de espacios comerciales, como intermediarios culturales o “curadores”, usan su gusto específico para crear mercados pop-up de comida callejera. La curatoría implica un cuidadoso proceso de diseño y un acomodo de diferentes elementos materiales, afectivos y sensoriales. Esto incluye la selección de vendedores de comida de cocinas particulares y de la distribución y flujos en el espacio del mercado para atraer ciertas audiencias. Este artículo utiliza hallazgos de una etnografía realizada en 2014 y 2015 para narrar el caso de Vibes Feast, una empresa que organiza mercados nocturnos en Londres en áreas como Dalston, Lewisham y Battersea. Hago uso del caso del mercado de Lewisham en el sureste de Londres, para ilustrar el trabajo curatorial de los organizadores de mercados. Analizo sus prácticas de trabajo y proceso de toma de decisiones para entender cómo la curatoría de este tipo de mercados es una práctica relevante en la creación de atmósferas de lugar para el consumo y la integración de un público de clase media alta acomodada, excluyendo al resto.
This paper explores the curatorial practices of market organisers and presents an account of the ... more This paper explores the curatorial practices of market organisers and presents an account of the process of staging atmospheres (Bille, Bjerregaard and Sorensen, 2014) in pop up street food markets in London. Specifically, I argue that the curation of markets demands the orchestration and negotiation of different material and immaterial elements to form a specific atmosphere, such as the selection of food traders with particular cuisines, the layout and infrastructure, design, aesthetic and sensorial elements (colours, smells, sounds) of place as well as organiser’s socioeconomic knowledge and awareness about audiences. In this analysis, I am considering the work of market organisers as cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu, 1984) or curators (Hracs, 2014) in terms of their use of taste and calculations or qualifications (Callon, 1998; Entwistle, 2009) to assemble knowledge, material forms and spatial elements, and to configure a specific sense of place and a distinctive style of street food markets. Drawing on ethnographic research including interviews with market organisers about the different curatorial processes and staging of atmospheres, I present two street food markets as case studies: a pop up lunch time market outside The Gherkin building in The City of London, and a night market in Lewisham, South East London. The selection of these markets, which have different purposes and audiences, allows me to investigate the curatorial work of staging atmospheres and contributes to an understanding of how the curation of street food markets is a relevant practice in the generation of ‘tasted’ places in London.
Este artículo indaga cómo las prácticas de ocio generan apropiaciones del espacio urbano, en el c... more Este artículo indaga cómo las prácticas de ocio generan apropiaciones del espacio urbano, en el caso de mujeres habitantes del Cerro Cordillera en la ciudad de Valparaíso, Chile. A partir de una aproximación etnográfica de situaciones de la vida cotidiana de un grupo de mujeres del cerro, se develan tres grupos de prácticas socioespaciales vinculadas al ocio: las comunitarias, las personales y las colectivas. Las primeras abordan la participación de mujeres en el trabajo de recuperación de espacios descartados de la ciudad, como sitios eriazos, quebradas y lugares deteriorados, para ser utilizados como espacio público para el barrio. Las segundas, corresponden a prácticas personales en donde se exploran relaciones más íntimas entre el ocio y la ciudad; como el paseo o la utilización de calles como miradores. Finalmente, las practicas colectivas son aquellas donde las mujeres crean redes de amistad y cuidado a través del ocio. El artículo expone otras vías de análisis para la producc...
This research is an ethnography about the curation of the street food scene in London that looks ... more This research is an ethnography about the curation of the street food scene in London that looks at processes of cultural calculation to make markets and to assemble marketplaces. The main research question that is guiding this thesis is how is the street food scene in London being curated? This inquiry follows previous research in cultural economies in different scenes of cultural production like advertising, fashion or music (Du Gay and Pryke, 2002; Slater, 2002a; Entwistle, 2006, 2009; McFall, 2002, 2009, 2013; Ariztia, 2015; Negus, 2002; Law, 2002; McRobbie, 2016; Arriagada, 2014; Arriagada and Cruz, 2014). I am focussing on the idea of curation as analytical vehicle to understand the work of cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu, 1984) as a process of value generation, in which they culturally calculate markets (Callon, 1998; Callon, Meadel and Rabeharisoa, 2002; Slater 2002a) and assemble marketplaces (Farias, 2010; McFarlane, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c) by putting together knowledge, pe...
This is the first of two posts relating to the Sociology Forum event on 15th January, a panel dis... more This is the first of two posts relating to the Sociology Forum event on 15th January, a panel discussion on Bitcoin and alternative currencies. Here, we offer a brief introduction in preparation for the event and share some interesting resources and articles about Bitcoin and alternative currencies from a variety of sources. We will follow this up with a summary of the discussion, which will be trying to uncover what is sociologically interesting about the Bitcoin phenomenon.
Abstract Concern around personal safety is a significant factor in constraining women’s access to... more Abstract Concern around personal safety is a significant factor in constraining women’s access to and use of public space. One strategy presented to address this involves altering the design of built environments. However, tension and controversy surround these arguments in the literature on safety perception in public space. This study seeks to explore whether the presence of three design interventions commonly cited in the literature act to enhance or reduce perceptions of safety in public space, focusing on women’s experiences in particular. Three design interventions are examined: public toilets, solid walls, and graffiti removal. To test these interventions, an image-based randomised control trial with 104 participants was conducted in 2018 in London (UK). A series of control and treatment images simulating each design intervention was viewed and ranked by participants according to perceived safety. The findings of this study suggest that: the presence of public toilets does not affect perceived safety; eliminating graffiti has a weak significant impact on perceived safety; and removing solid walls leads to significant improvements of perceptions of safety, with the effect being stronger for women. These results suggest that to maximise investment effectiveness, urban design and planning policies that aim to increase perceptions of safety should be evidence-based, and need to integrate a gendered perspective. The presented technique could support urban design processes by examining the safety-enhancement impact of proposed public space interventions prior to their being rolled out.
This article focusses on the work of street-food market organizers in London as a design practice... more This article focusses on the work of street-food market organizers in London as a design practice. The argument is based on ethnographic research about the curation of the street-food scene, which aimed at understanding how market organizers created markets as economic entities and design marketplaces as urban forms. Space, objects, people, aesthetics, and atmospheres were designed into a marketplace with distinctive qualities. As such, market designers perform an important role as urban actors. They not only design the qualities of place but also use them to create inequalities in the street-food scene and the urban realm more widely.
The creation of atmospheres in places of consumption and leisure activities in everyday life is a... more The creation of atmospheres in places of consumption and leisure activities in everyday life is a relevant element for the work of creative industries. This paper gives an insight into my doctoral research “The configuration of the Street Food Scene in London” and explores the creation of atmospheres in public events and how these atmospheres are being performed. In this presentation I will argue about the curation of vibes, a process that describes the generation of a particular sensory experience configured by material and immaterial elements, and that constitutes a distinctive practice among street food markets’ producers. I will use the preliminary findings of my ethnography to narrate the case of a pop up night market in Lewisham, South East London, a formerly abandoned semi-cover market with units selling gourmet preparations, micro-diners, bars and DJ’s, a destination and scenario where young people and families were enjoying their summer evenings. This account will point out...
Extract of my dissertation for the MSc in Culture and Society, LSE. This document contains the ta... more Extract of my dissertation for the MSc in Culture and Society, LSE. This document contains the table of contents and introduction.
La investigación realizada es un estudio exploratorio de las comunidades virtuales como fenómeno ... more La investigación realizada es un estudio exploratorio de las comunidades virtuales como fenómeno cultural cuyo objetivo específico es analizar la representación social del sexo pagado en la comunidad virtual La Estokada, entendiendo cuáles son las informaciones, las actitudes y el campo de representación asociados a aquella representación social. Available online in spanish http://www.tesis.uchile.cl/tesis/uchile/2009/cs-concha_p/pdfAmont/cs-concha_p.pdf
The next article uses statistical data and a brief conceptual consideration to illustrate the imp... more The next article uses statistical data and a brief conceptual consideration to illustrate the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on teenagers and pre-teenagers. Data from the CASEN 2003 socioeconomic survey as well as theoretical considerations are employed to measure youngster’s accesses to ICT and its use. Besides, some conceptual elements related to the use of ICT as part of «youngster’s digital culture» are presented.
Este artículo indaga cómo las prácticas de ocio generan apropiaciones del espacio urbano, en el c... more Este artículo indaga cómo las prácticas de ocio generan apropiaciones del espacio urbano, en el caso de mujeres habitantes del Cerro Cordillera en la ciudad de Valparaíso, Chile. A partir de una aproximación etnográfica de situaciones de la vida cotidiana de un grupo de mujeres del cerro, se develan tres grupos de prácticas socioespaciales vinculadas al ocio: las comunitarias, las personales y las colectivas. Las primeras abordan la participación de mujeres en el trabajo de recuperación de espacios descartados de la ciudad, como sitios eriazos, quebradas y lugares deteriorados, para ser utilizados como espacio público para el barrio. Las segundas, corresponden a prácticas personales en donde se exploran relaciones más íntimas entre el ocio y la ciudad; como el paseo o la utilización de calles como miradores. Finalmente, las practicas colectivas son aquellas donde las mujeres crean redes de amistad y cuidado a través del ocio. El artículo expone otras vías de análisis para la producción social del espacio público, mostrando cómo las esferas de lo personal y lo comunitario se vinculan a través del ocio, reivindicando a su vez, las prácticas y estrategias de apropiación espacial de las mujeres.
This post by doctoral researcher, Paz Concha, summarises the presentation and main discussion of ... more This post by doctoral researcher, Paz Concha, summarises the presentation and main discussion of the Ethnography panel chaired by Suzi Hall. Mona Sloane (first year PhD) started the session by presenting an ANT-critique developed in her MSc dissertation (Culture and Society 2011/2012) and how this critique has informed the main research questions for her PhD project. Core to the presentation was the question of how to bring materialities to the forefront of ethnographic research, in her case ethnographic research in an urban design practice.
In Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries, Angela McRobbie addresses how the ... more In Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries, Angela McRobbie addresses how the encouragement to foster one’s ‘creativity’ as a set of capacities or skills necessary for professional success is entwined with the rise in freelance, temporary and low-paid labour. Drawing upon McRobbie’s extensive contributions to the field of cultural and creative industries, this book underscores the contemporary link between creative work and precarity, but also offers hope for future change, writes Paz Concha.
In a recent edition of The Guardian, there was a story about the privatisation of Berwick Street ... more In a recent edition of The Guardian, there was a story about the privatisation of Berwick Street Market, an historic London market in the heart of Soho. Stallholders are protesting at the council’s decision to bring in a “commercial operator” to manage the market. Why would the council would do that? Not only for efficiency reasons, but as a councillor mentions, the market needs to “wash its face”. Bringing in a market organiser for Berwick Street is a way of changing the look and feel of the market and the area; as a market campaigner says in the article “the reinvention of markets has got to be done in a curated way”.
Tejiendo rutas. Perspectivas para un Chile con equidad de género, 2023
En este capítulo, analizaré algunas de las discusiones respecto al acceso y uso del espacio públi... more En este capítulo, analizaré algunas de las discusiones respecto al acceso y uso del espacio público de ciudades que hacen las mujeres.9 Existe una gran cantidad de literatura y estudios que abordan y continúan confirmando la importante brecha en el acceso a espacios públicos para las mujeres, particularmente, por razones de seguridad y miedo al acoso y abuso sexual (para un resumen de la literatura anglo, ver Navarrete et al., 2021). Esta línea de investigación ha abierto la puerta a comprender de manera más específica las experiencias diferenciadas de las mujeres en el acceso y uso de medios de transporte públicos en relación a la movilidad cotidiana y la utilización de equipamiento urbano, especialmente, parques y áreas verdes. Por una parte, examinaré aspectos teórico-conceptuales acerca de la relación género y espacio público, para luego tomar algunos temas centrales de la discusión sobre desigualdad en el acceso y uso del espacio público, con una revisión de información secundaria para el caso chileno. Aquí divido los antecedentes entre los factores que explican la ausencia de las mujeres en el espacio público, y menciono algunas oportunidades para pensar en cómo promover la presencia y apropiación de ellas en este como un aporte para el diseño y planificación urbana inclusiva.
Space, Taste and Affect. Atmospheres That Shape the Way We Eat., 2020
This chapter explores how market organisers as ‘curators’ create street food markets in London. I... more This chapter explores how market organisers as ‘curators’ create street food markets in London. I analyse how their use of cultural and aesthetic knowledge capitalises on wider processes of gentrification. This curatorial work includes a careful design and arrangement of material, affective and sensorial elements, including the selection of food traders, cuisines and atmospheres to appeal to particular audiences. I draw on findings from an ethnography conducted in 2014–2015 at a night market in Lewisham. This case specifically illustrates curators’ decision-making process in the setting up of markets as a relevant practice in the generation of ‘tasted places’ of consumption.
One of the persistent challenges of conducting research in urban and regional sociology is the u... more One of the persistent challenges of conducting research in urban and regional sociology is the use of innovative research methodologies that make justice to the diversity of contexts and data that we encounter in social and urban life. From researching new phenomena, under studied regions or diverse networks of complex urban actors, using and creating methodologies that could enlighten our research questions and fit our fieldwork is still a complex process. Innovative methodologies of urbanity would have to address and move beyond the use of traditional qualitative and quantitative research methods in sociology, and to engage with other techniques of data collection, representation or interpretation. A fresh approach to research methods could engage with techniques borrowed from other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, including mapping, GPS tracking, visual and audiovisual methods, reporting tools or platforms, or a combination of these. This panel would like to explore the possibilities of integrating innovative methods for researching urbanity, encouraging reflexivity on how research questions are formed through methods, how empirical material arises from the field and in which ways our informants or participants collaborate or co-investigate with us. This reflexive approach could also open up discussions about the generation of ad-hoc methodologies, according to specific localities, especially when researching in the Global South context. We suggest that experimentation with traditional and new methodologies could enhance our inquiry into social and urban life, contributing to theorizations about urbanity and to create further impact with academic research. We invite researchers to submit a contribution including title, up to 5 keywords, and a 300-word abstract to the conveners Paz Concha (paz.concha@uc.cl) and Leslie Parraguez (lparragu@uc.cl) and cc your submission to rc21delhi@gmail.com.
En esta ponencia expongo mi proyecto de investigación que tiene por objetivo estudiar procesos de... more En esta ponencia expongo mi proyecto de investigación que tiene por objetivo estudiar procesos de transformación económica y urbana en barrios comerciales en Santiago. Esta investigación surge como una extensión natural de mi tesis doctoral acerca de la curatoría de mercados de comida callejera en Londres (Concha, 2017), y se enfoca en profundizar en las estrategias de curatoría y creación de lugar (placemaking) en barrios comerciales que estén en proceso de regeneración. De este modo, me interesa estudiar hasta qué punto la curatoría de estos lugares puede contribuir a procesos de gentrificación comercial o de cohesión social en el espacio urbano.
This presentation explores the role of market organisers as experts in the curation of pop up str... more This presentation explores the role of market organisers as experts in the curation of pop up street food markets in London. I am looking at the working practices of market organisers as cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu, 1984) or curators (Hracs, 2014) in terms of their use of taste and calculations or qualifications (Callon, 1998; Entwistle, 2009) to assemble knowledge, material forms, spatial and aesthetic elements to create a cultural scene, a market and a place. Drawing on ethnographic research including interviews with market organisers, I examine these practical tasks or curatorial work to produce market places. I argue that the curation of markets demands the orchestration and negotiation of different internal elements, such as the choice of venues, the generation of a line-up of traders and the set-up of the market place; including taking care of the infrastructure and layout, interior design, aesthetics and sensorial elements to brand the market place. I will be focussing on the aesthetic and sensorial elements of place; in this case, organisers need to arrange material elements such as decoration, lightning, and other aspects of branding, along with other sensorial elements like heating, music or smells to create a distinct street food market experience. These curatorial tasks are carried out by organisers as place makers, making use of their economic, cultural, spatial and aesthetic knowledge to produce a distinct consumption experience.
This paper explores the curatorial practices of market organisers and presents an account of the ... more This paper explores the curatorial practices of market organisers and presents an account of the process of staging atmospheres (Bille, Bjerregaard and Sorensen, 2014) in pop up street food markets in London. Specifically, I argue that the curation of markets demands the orchestration and negotiation of different material and immaterial elements to form a specific atmosphere, such as the selection of food traders with particular cuisines, the layout and infrastructure, design, aesthetic and sensorial elements (colours, smells, sounds) of place as well as organiser’s socioeconomic knowledge and awareness about audiences. In this analysis, I am considering the work of market organisers as cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu, 1984) or curators (Hracs, 2014) in terms of their use of taste and calculations or qualifications (Callon, 1998; Entwistle, 2009) to assemble knowledge, material forms and spatial elements, and to configure a specific sense of place and a distinctive style of street food markets.
Drawing on ethnographic research including interviews with market organisers about the different curatorial processes and staging of atmospheres, I present two street food markets as case studies: a pop up lunch time market outside The Gherkin building in The City of London, and a night market in Lewisham, South East London. The selection of these markets, which have different purposes and audiences, allows me to investigate the curatorial work of staging atmospheres and contributes to an understanding of how the curation of street food markets is a relevant practice in the generation of ‘tasted’ places in London.
This presentation explores the role of market organisers as experts in the curation of pop up str... more This presentation explores the role of market organisers as experts in the curation of pop up street food markets in London. I am interested in revising the performance of expertise by looking at the working practices of market organisers. I am conceptualising these actors as cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu, 1984) or curators (Hracs, 2014) in terms of their use of taste and calculations or qualifications (Callon, 1998; Entwistle, 2009) to assemble knowledge, material forms and spatial elements to create markets.
Drawing on ethnographic research including interviews with market organisers, I examine how market organisers develop their professional expertise as curators and how their taste dispositions were cultivated as embodied knowledge, allowing them to create a new career in a niche business. Then, I will analyse how organisers pick good traders to join their markets through a subjective evaluation of features that includes food quality, branding and a trader’s personal character. The search for professionalism is connected with market organisers’ preferences of age, class and cultural capital when picking young, educated and entrepreneurial traders to join their markets. As experts, market organisers use economic rationality, an understanding of the street food scene, along with an embodied knowledge to make taste distinctions.
The creation of atmospheres in places of consumption and leisure activities in everyday life is a... more The creation of atmospheres in places of consumption and leisure activities in everyday life is a relevant element for the work of creative industries. This paper gives an insight into my doctoral research “The configuration of the Street Food Scene in London” and explores the creation of atmospheres in public events and how these atmospheres are being performed. In this presentation I will argue about the curation of vibes, a process that describes the generation of a particular sensory experience configured by material and immaterial elements, and that constitutes a distinctive practice among street food markets’ producers. I will use the preliminary findings of my ethnography to narrate the case of a pop up night market in Lewisham, South East London, a formerly abandoned semi-cover market with units selling gourmet preparations, micro-diners, bars and DJ’s, a destination and scenario where young people and families were enjoying their summer evenings. This account will point out how the production of atmospheres as an experience is a significant element for the identity formation of a subcultural scene.
Actas del VI Congreso Chileno de Antropologia, 2007
El siguiente artículo ilustra desde datos estadísticos y una breve reflexión conceptual el impact... more El siguiente artículo ilustra desde datos estadísticos y una breve reflexión conceptual el impacto de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en los adolescentes y preadolescentes. A través del texto se indica el acceso a las TIC que tiene este segmento de la población juvenil y sus tendencias de uso según la encuesta CASEN 2003. Además se presentan algunas reflexiones conceptuales acerca de la inclusión del uso de estas tecnologías como parte de la cultura digital juvenil.
Palabras clave: TIC, adolescentes, juventud, cultura digital.
This research is an ethnography about the curation of the street food scene in London that looks ... more This research is an ethnography about the curation of the street food scene in London that looks at processes of cultural calculation to make markets and to assemble marketplaces. The main research question that is guiding this thesis is how is the street food scene in London being curated? This inquiry follows previous research in cultural economies in different scenes of cultural production like advertising, fashion or music (Du Gay and Pryke, 2002; Slater, 2002a; Entwistle, 2006, 2009; McFall, 2002, 2009, 2013; Ariztía, 2015; Negus, 2002; Law, 2002; McRobbie, 2016; Arriagada, 2014; Arriagada and Cruz, 2014). I am focussing on the idea of curation as analytical vehicle to understand the work of cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu, 1984) as a process of value generation, in which they culturally calculate markets (Callon, 1998; Callon, Méadel and Rabeharisoa, 2002; Slater 2002a) and assemble marketplaces (Farías, 2010; McFarlane, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c) by putting together knowledge, people, objects, aesthetics and other materials that configure the scene. This ethnography focusses on the working practices of market organisers, particularly from a company that I will call EAT-LONDON and four food traders who work in these and other markets. Nine months of fieldwork were conducted, working at offices, markets and food stalls across London. Through this empirical work with actors in the street food scene, rich data was obtained with the purpose of analysing how markets are formed in cultural economies, and how markets create place. Curators are actors that shape the social using their embodied and social knowledge to separate businesses, audiences or places based on the distinction of this cultural scene (Johnston and Baumann, 2015; Naccarato and Lebesco, 2012; Cronin et. al., 2014). The practice of curation reveals how economic calculations are also configured by cultural distinctions and how place is assembled and emerging from multiple actors’ relationships and negotiations of value.
Extract of my dissertation for the MSc in Culture and Society, LSE. This document contains the ta... more Extract of my dissertation for the MSc in Culture and Society, LSE. This document contains the table of contents and introduction.
Susan Luckman’s book, Craft and the Creative Economy, revises the idea of craft as an object and ... more Susan Luckman’s book, Craft and the Creative Economy, revises the idea of craft as an object and a practice, looks at the take-off of craft entrepreneurialism and the role of the Internet as a tool for its distribution and marketing. The author is interested in analysing small-scale creative practices by looking at cultural workers and the gendered experience of cultural work. The book is ‘theoretically speculative’ (8), and most chapters debate ideas, concepts and literature on cultural studies and the creative industries, the impact of social media and the study of gender and technology. Luckman discusses how the craft or handmade economy has grown in the past year and the renewed value that craft items have for a middle-class audience, using a preliminary textual content examination of the website Etsy – a digital marketplace and community for selling crafts (knitting, crocheting and other handmade items) worldwide – as an example to support her argument.
Drawing upon the findings of a 30-month research project, The Creative Citizen Unbound: How Socia... more Drawing upon the findings of a 30-month research project, The Creative Citizen Unbound: How Social Media and DIY Culture Contribute to Democracy, Communities and the Creative Economy, edited by Ian Hargreaves and John Hartley, explores the potential of civic-minded individuals to participate in ‘creative citizenship’ by utilising social media and engaging with the creative economy. Although she would have welcomed more detailed discussion of the book’s guiding concepts, Paz Concha recommends its wealth of case studies and examples to academics and practitioners looking to enhance their research impact or build strategies for knowledge exchange.
In Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries, Angela McRobbie addresses how the ... more In Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries, Angela McRobbie addresses how the encouragement to foster one’s ‘creativity’ as a set of capacities or skills necessary for professional success is entwined with the rise in freelance, temporary and low-paid labour. Drawing upon McRobbie’s extensive contributions to the field of cultural and creative industries, this book underscores the contemporary link between creative work and precarity, but also offers hope for future change... Available: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2016/04/26/book-review-be-creative-making-a-living-in-the-new-culture-industries-by-angela-mcrobbie/
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Papers by Paz Concha
comida requiere el uso de diferentes conocimientos culturales y estéticos que capitalizan el vasto proceso de gentrificación en áreas clave de Londres (Reino Unido) para crear una atmósfera de lugar y, con ello, generar pertenencia y exclusión. Este trabajo explora específicamente cómo los organizadores de espacios comerciales, como intermediarios culturales o “curadores”, usan su gusto específico para crear mercados pop-up de comida callejera. La curatoría implica un cuidadoso proceso de diseño y un acomodo de diferentes elementos materiales, afectivos y sensoriales.
Esto incluye la selección de vendedores de comida de cocinas particulares y de la distribución y flujos en el espacio del mercado para atraer ciertas
audiencias. Este artículo utiliza hallazgos de una etnografía realizada en 2014 y 2015 para narrar el caso de Vibes Feast, una empresa que organiza mercados nocturnos en Londres en áreas como Dalston, Lewisham y Battersea. Hago uso del caso del mercado de Lewisham en el sureste de Londres, para ilustrar el trabajo curatorial de los organizadores de mercados.
Analizo sus prácticas de trabajo y proceso de toma de decisiones para entender cómo la curatoría de este tipo de mercados es una práctica relevante en la creación de atmósferas de lugar para el consumo y la
integración de un público de clase media alta acomodada, excluyendo al resto.
comida requiere el uso de diferentes conocimientos culturales y estéticos que capitalizan el vasto proceso de gentrificación en áreas clave de Londres (Reino Unido) para crear una atmósfera de lugar y, con ello, generar pertenencia y exclusión. Este trabajo explora específicamente cómo los organizadores de espacios comerciales, como intermediarios culturales o “curadores”, usan su gusto específico para crear mercados pop-up de comida callejera. La curatoría implica un cuidadoso proceso de diseño y un acomodo de diferentes elementos materiales, afectivos y sensoriales.
Esto incluye la selección de vendedores de comida de cocinas particulares y de la distribución y flujos en el espacio del mercado para atraer ciertas
audiencias. Este artículo utiliza hallazgos de una etnografía realizada en 2014 y 2015 para narrar el caso de Vibes Feast, una empresa que organiza mercados nocturnos en Londres en áreas como Dalston, Lewisham y Battersea. Hago uso del caso del mercado de Lewisham en el sureste de Londres, para ilustrar el trabajo curatorial de los organizadores de mercados.
Analizo sus prácticas de trabajo y proceso de toma de decisiones para entender cómo la curatoría de este tipo de mercados es una práctica relevante en la creación de atmósferas de lugar para el consumo y la
integración de un público de clase media alta acomodada, excluyendo al resto.
Drawing on ethnographic research including interviews with market organisers about the different curatorial processes and staging of atmospheres, I present two street food markets as case studies: a pop up lunch time market outside The Gherkin building in The City of London, and a night market in Lewisham, South East London. The selection of these markets, which have different purposes and audiences, allows me to investigate the curatorial work of staging atmospheres and contributes to an understanding of how the curation of street food markets is a relevant practice in the generation of ‘tasted’ places in London.
Drawing on ethnographic research including interviews with market organisers, I examine how market organisers develop their professional expertise as curators and how their taste dispositions were cultivated as embodied knowledge, allowing them to create a new career in a niche business. Then, I will analyse how organisers pick good traders to join their markets through a subjective evaluation of features that includes food quality, branding and a trader’s personal character. The search for professionalism is connected with market organisers’ preferences of age, class and cultural capital when picking young, educated and entrepreneurial traders to join their markets. As experts, market organisers use economic rationality, an understanding of the street food scene, along with an embodied knowledge to make taste distinctions.
Palabras clave: TIC, adolescentes, juventud, cultura digital.
Available: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2016/04/26/book-review-be-creative-making-a-living-in-the-new-culture-industries-by-angela-mcrobbie/