Vernacular Practices Research Articles

Place of the people/people of the place: a spatial structure of vernacular practices in Hong Kong

This paper delves into Hong Kong's vernacular spatial cultures and their role in shaping the city's identity. Through a careful architectural survey, the study uncovers unique vernacular spatial practices in Hong Kong, categorising them into eleven vernacular typologies at the district scale. These practices challenge the traditional top-down approach to city planning and design, offering valuable insights into how informal and vernacular practices can create more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient urban spaces. The paper contends that the conventional approach to architectural design has been limited by its focus on abstract interpretations of the city, and argues for a spatial structure that emphasises the empirical study of the physical elements and cultural habitation of the citizens. The urgency of this research lies in its potential to revolutionise urban space production, address social problems and needs, and provide a unique spatial identification for cities in Asia and beyond.

Employing Vernacular Urbanism and Traditional Practices in Enhancing Contemporary Cities: Insights from India

Vernacular urbanism, which encompasses traditional architectural and planning practices rooted in local culture and environmental conditions, presents valuable insights for modern urban design. As modern cities face increasing challenges such as environmental sustainability, cultural homogenization and climate change, the significance of these traditional practices becomes more apparent. In this context, it is argued that understanding and integrating vernacular practices can enhance contemporary urban design by merging historical knowledge with modern needs. This paper examines the integration of vernacular urbanism— traditional architectural and urban planning practices—into contemporary city design by employing a qualitative approach through case studies across various Indian cities such as Mumbai, Kochi, Jaipur and Jaisalmer, drawing on various data sources including historical texts, architectural treatises. By examining these, the study uncovers the evolution of vernacular urban practices and their applicability to contemporary urban design challenges. The paper concludes that integrating vernacular principles into the design of contemporary cities creates a harmonious balance between heritage preservation and advancing modern developments. This approach effectively bridges the gap between historical knowledge and contemporary urban planning, resulting in more livable, sustainable urban environments.

A revered place in the rural landscape: Whose heritage? On the history of the holy spring in Altai

The article examines the problems of the relationship between rural local communities and local landscape shrines. Drawing on fieldwork data, archival materials, local periodicals, and writings of Siberian Old Believers, I attempt to reconstruct the historical past of the Holy Spring, one of the most revered places in the Altai region, which bears the characteristics of both the cult and memorial place. I inquire into the conditions leading to transformations in the historical memory that is embodied in revered places and expound the methodology for studying such loci as functional zones of cultural landscapes, locations of memory, and objects of cultural heritage. I further specifically address the interesting case of overlapping vernacular practices of venerating holy places and collective memory of local events during the Civil War. Finally, I examine the most significant stages in the history of the revered place, as well as the reasons for its “reinvention” at the present time.

Unruliness and Exorbitance

Unruliness and Exorbitance

Material Deposits at Sacred Sites—the Many Faces of Modern Paganism in Estonia

The popularity of natural sacred places has increased significantly across Europe during the last decades. Hills, stones, springs, and groves—places named sacred in oral tradition—have become focal points for practices of contemporary paganism and spiritualism. In Estonia, this movement’s rise in popularity has been marked by an increase in the number of and type of deposits left at sacred sites. This article examines the objects left at sacred sites in order to analyze the vernacular religious practices and convictions of the people who use these places. Based on case studies at five sacred sites across Estonia, it is argued that these material objects must be regarded as an independent source of information about contemporary paganism and its interpretations by people who approve pagan worldview. Taken as such, these material objects complicate existing understandings of pagan religious communities in Estonia. While traditional accounts describe paganism as a cohesive body of devotees united by their participation in ancient traditions derived from folklore, the material culture of sacred sites in Estonia reveals the users of sacred sites to be a loosely structured community who engage in shifting vernacular practices related to history, nature, ethnicity, and paganism.

The Evolution of #MeToo: A Comparative Analysis of Vernacular Practices Over Time and Across Languages

Drawing from a thematic analysis of 960 tweets for English, 960 tweets for German, and 753 tweets for Mandarin, this article explores how the #MeToo movement was taken up and used in different ways in the first 12 months. The article achieves this by drawing on the concept of platform vernacular, identifying three new, at times overlapping, vernacular practices: spotlighting, interconnectivity, and meta conversations. We argue that these vernacular practices function more than simply as the dominant “grammars of communication” in #MeToo but connect individual experiences of sexual violence to broader political structures such as patriarchy, homophobia, xenophobia, and racism. Yet, as our analysis uncovered, while the vernacular practices enabled #MeToo to be politicized, these systems of oppression were not always challenged, but at times, reinforced. As such, while previous research has shown how (affective) vernacular practices shape what we know and feel about sexual violence, this article highlights how vernacular practices fundamentally shape how the public contextualizes and (mis)understands sexual violence as a political issue. Overall, the article contributes to scholarship in the field of new media, feminism, and communication by showing how hashtags are taken up by the public in different ways and how shared vernacular practices emerge across languages, even when the content, focus, or rhetoric may diverge.

Comparative Analysis of Traditional and Contemporary Architecture in Context to Sustainable Characteristics and its Construction Techniques: A Case of Kumaon Region

Abstract: This research focuses on the study of traditional architecture of Kumaon, and how it has changed over the period of time. Kumaon region in Uttarakhand shows great examples of traditional architecture which has proven to be the best earthresistant structures. The concept of science and earthquake-resistant structures were beyond the thought process of the people of that time. These traditional structures were cost effective, energy-efficient, provide thermal comfort for the longer period of day. The buildings of that time were locally constructed by the skilled person of the community using conventional materials like stone, mud, timber slates etc. With rapid urbanization, the need for rapid development has increased, transportation has improved, and the need for high rise structures has encouraged the use of modern materials such as concrete. However, society continues to demand better services, faster and easier construction to meet the needs of residents, resulting in serious damage to the fragile environment in and around settlements. To minimize the environmental impact of damage caused by modern technology, the use of indigenous practices needs to be revived. This research comprises of the comparison of traditional architectural style “Koti banal” which is rarely being used in many northern parts of Uttarakhand and current construction technique which is affecting the natural terrain of Kumaon resulting in natural calamities like landslide, soil erosion etc. The vernacular practices and patterns followed in conventional hill settlements have splendid capability to emerge as the premise for brand new improvement and system of suitable constructing policies for hill settlements.

Inservice Music Teachers’ Vernacular Practices: A Self-Study of Curricular Application

The purpose of this self-study was to explore how a college-level vernacular music course might have played a part in shaping inservice music educators’ teaching practices. Nineteen music teachers who graduated from the same teacher preparation program completed a 23-item researcher-constructed questionnaire that identified how they viewed, incorporated, and negotiated vernacular music practices in their classrooms. Overall, participants indicated that incorporating vernacular approaches in school music programs was important and that the vernacular music course positively impacted how they conceptualized music teaching. Participants reported including a wide variety of informal learning activities that involved technology, aural learning, and student-directed music projects. Conversely, participants identified time limitations, lack of resources, classroom management, and performance tensions as distinct challenges. Future directions include documenting turning points in students’ vernacular learning, monitoring curricular changes in PK–12 music programs, and fortifying preservice music teachers’ preparation in multimusical learning.

THE PHENOMENON OF POST-INTERNET ART: ARTISTIC STRATEGIES AND PLACE IN THE FIELD OF CONTEMPORARY ART

The study is devoted to the phenomenon of post-Internet art, its main representatives and key works, and a description of their characteristics. In contrast to the practices of net art, post-Internet art is a “return to the material”: artists create objects inspired by the network and often bearing the “mark” of network aesthetics. However, these objects have physical characteristics; they evoke a tactile sensation in the viewer, serving as a spontaneous affirmation of materiality in our increasingly virtualised world. Post-Internet art is a little-studied area of contemporary art; the emergence of this trend is associated with the development of net-art practices (network art), which have offered new forms of interaction with viewers who got the opportunity to join the artistic process as full participants. The term “post-Internet” should be understood not as a situation “after” the Internet (as if the Internet “ended”) but as a situation after some significant event that changed the usual course of things. “Post-Internet” is a situation after the Internet has ceased to be perceived in a romantic way, as a space of anonymity and permissiveness, “undeveloped land” and is now understood as part of an online-offline “bundle” - with appropriate communication channels, creation of commercial platforms, digital currencies and etc., that is, as part of vernacular practices (everyday experience). From the point of view of its orientation, post-Internet art deals with understanding the consequences of the influence of Internet practices on contemporary art and culture. Net art artists created such works that were intended for the Internet, that is, used the possibilities of the Internet as a means of expression (they studied the structure of the Internet, the features of the code, the specifics of certain browsers, programs, etc.), whereas post-Internet artists seem to “bring” digital objects from the digital environment into the material world and use both online and offline formats for reflection on the effects of almost ubiquitous networking. In the 2010s, the Internet was no longer perceived as a “new” medium; it became more difficult to talk about post-Internet art as a specific movement in art since more and more aspects of our daily life are structurally determined by the World Wide Web, including art as a whole. Of course, the Internet continues to interest artists as a kind of socio-cultural state; however, discourses related to the Internet start to be increasingly woven into a wider range of issues - digital capitalism, ecology, social issues, etc. Therefore, the “marking” of art created under the influence of the Internet or referring to it in one way or another as “post-Internet art” is becoming less and less common, which allows us to speak about the specific temporal boundaries of post-Internet art as an art movement.

Práticas literárias na rede de futuros professores do ensino primário

Abstract The increased presence of adolescents and young people on the Internet has led to an interest in analysing their reading and multimodal practices, which sometimes involve the creation of spaces for reading socialisation in this context and the development of vernacular practices on the Internet ( CASSANY, 2012). In this paper, we want to explore this question in greater depth, considering their reading practices on the web and the knowledge that teacher trainees in Primary Education at the University of Extremadura have about the new genres developed in this media context. For this purpose, an ad hoc questionnaire was designed in which the students reported on their reading habits and practices. The results show a scarce knowledge of the genres mentioned and very little consolidated reading habits, which makes it necessary to carry out specific work to reinforce this habit and their knowledge of the different practices.

From Slaves to Índios: Empire, Slavery, and Race (Maranhão, Brazil, c.1740–90)

Northern Brazil experienced consequential socio-economic and legal transformation by the mid-eighteenth century in the context of imperial reforms. If the region relied for decades on the enslavement of Indigenous Americans, the Portuguese crown banned the practiced in 1755. To develop a plantation economy, the monarchy created a trading company responsible for shipping unprecedented number of enslaved Africans. This article discusses ruptures and continuities on the enslavement of Indigenous Americans. It focuses on one city, São Luís, and makes extensive use of Catholic sources (baptisms and marriages), notarial records, and legal cases. The article analyzes the connection between mechanisms that allowed the resilience of slavery (or forms that resembled slavery) and attempts to claim and preserve freedom or autonomy, in this case the strategic use of the índio status. The article develops two of those mechanisms: social dependencies created within the households and the use of socio-racial classifications by the colonial society. I make two interconnected arguments. First, I propose a bottom-up process of Indigenous slavery abolition. Indigenous workers were savvy litigants and they fought for their place as mobile wage laborers within the city. Second, in that moment of socio-economic and legal transformations, slaveholders developed vernacular practices stressing black maternal origins to slaves.

Living waste, living on waste: A bioeconomy of urban cows in Delhi

AbstractThe economic implications of biopolitics – or the administration, regulation, and control of life – have received significant attention in recent geographical and cognate scholarship. An emerging theme of inquiry, largely focused on the Global North, makes contributions to specifying ‘lively capital’, defined here as bodily value in motion – predicated on accumulation from other‐than‐human life. In this paper, we argue that the biopolitical process of bringing life into the ambit of capital works in cultural, political, and economic registers and not just through singular logics of the economic, as extant accounts have implied. The rendition of life into capital through modes of biopower is not a universal process. It has diverging trajectories that, in postcolonial contexts, involve hybrids between biopolitical and vernacular practices. This argument is made through an account of bovine biopolitics in urban Delhi with specific reference to the city's ‘cattle problem’ involving ‘surplus’ animals. It unfolds in four distinct parts. First, drawing on archival work, we trace colonial histories of cattle improvement to reveal how the category of ‘surplus’ was invented. Second, we deploy more‐than‐human ethnographies of free‐ranging animals in Delhi to foreground how ‘surplus’ cattle – which we conceptualise as ‘living waste’ – are driven to feed on waste as a result of gentrification and the enclosure of erstwhile grazing grounds. Third, we turn to gaushalas (cow shelters) in Delhi to show how ‘surplus’ cattle from the city's streets are rehomed and managed. Fourth, we examine the uneven practices of care afforded to different bovines based on logics associated with right‐wing Hindutva nationalism. Our account provincialises lively capital by opening up more nuanced and situated understandings of the relations between biopolitics and capitalism, attentive to divergences from models situated in Western modernity.

Smears, Laughs, and Barnyard Hokum: Early Jazz Trombone and the Problem of Novelty

Smears, Laughs, and Barnyard Hokum: Early Jazz Trombone and the Problem of Novelty

Technology, temporality, and the study of Central Asia: an introduction

ABSTRACT This issue is dedicated to the question of how research on technology and its inherent temporality and materiality can enhance our understanding of geography, culture and history in Central Asia. The articles provide fresh ideas on Central Asia as a region by unpacking the “hard” infrastructural base of its cultural, social, and economic geography. They offer a more inclusive view on Central Asian landscapes, focusing on permanent material structures and vernacular practices that are often overlooked in conventional historiography and social studies research. Finally, they explore how research on technology both supports and challenges the primacy of political history in defining the historical periods and legacies of Central Asia. The papers cover about 150 years of history, with case studies on what are today Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia. This introductory essay summarizes their key insights, situating them in a wider debate on technology in and beyond Central Asia.

Musical Evolution and the Other: From State-Sponsored Musical Evolutionism in the USSR to Post-Soviet Crimean Tatar Indigenous Music

AbstractIn the Soviet Union, logics of evolutionism undergirded the Communist party-state's interventions into many aspects of Soviet life, including the realm of “folk music.” In this article, I draw on the example of the Soviet institutionalization of a Crimean Tatar folk orchestra to demonstrate how Soviet musical evolutionism ordered and constrained vernacular musical practices in ways that have had long-term political consequences, especially concerning the politics of post-Soviet indigeneity. I argue that to delink teleology from musical evolution—akin to how evolution is understood in the physical sciences—would take a fundamental step toward decolonizing music studies. I conclude by comparing the Soviet case to contemporary discourses of musical evolutionism, observing how it risks exiling some musics to a present that is “less evolved.”Crimean Tatar language, translated by Adel Khairutdinova, Muslim Umerov, and Ayla Bakkalli

Cultivated, feral, wild: the urban as an ecological formation

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to rethink the urban as an ecological formation. It argues that contrary to an emphasis on the built environment, articulated through refrains of capital, planning and design, cities are lived achievements, emerging through fabrications between human and other-than-human forces. Ecological formations are fleshed out in three modes: ecologies that involve the cultivated, feral and the wild. There are distinct forms of urban governance affiliated with each, taken as hybrids of biopolitical and vernacular practices. Rethinking cities as ecological formations enables a more radical understanding of the difference and heterogeneity of urban worlds than those on offer in urban theory. It signals a shift from animating urban geographies towards understandings of how other-than-human geographies are constitutive of urban worlds.

Vernacular practices in digital feminist activism on Twitter: deconstructing affect and emotion in the #MeToo movement

ABSTRACT In 2017, the #MeToo movement garnered international attention when millions of people used it to share experiences of sexual violence via social media. Through an analysis of 570 tweets randomly and purposively sampled within the first 24 hours of the movement, we were interested in answering the following questions: (1) What emotions are present in #MeToo tweets?; and (2) What are the vernacular practices in the #MeToo movement, and how do they convey affect? Through applying Robert Plutchik (2000) structural model of emotion, we were able to identify a wider range of emotions evident in feminist hashtag campaigns than has previously been identified and analyse their varied functions. Furthermore, we show how the difficulty in narrating personal experiences of violence and sharing discernible emotions via this hashtag fed into four vernacular practices, which we argue stimulate affect. Thus, the article contributes to a more nuanced understanding of two often conflated concepts—emotion and affect—and their different roles within #MeToo. The article ultimately shows how a movement such as #MeToo can be highly affective, even when participants disclose very little emotion or detail.

Locating pro‐environmental vernacular practices of tourism

AbstractPro‐environmental vernacular practices are embodied, place‐specific, ordinary actions that are part of people's daily lives. They result in lower levels of resource consumption without necessarily being grounded in an explicit pro‐environmental agenda. A growing body of cultural geographical scholarship has explored a range of vernacular practices, predominantly among households in Western countries. This paper argues such capacities can be found in a more diverse array of cultural contexts, namely tourism. This is demonstrated by evaluating the literature on tourist practices and entering it into a dialog with the literature on pro‐environmental vernacular practices. The paper shows how tourism is an important site through which such pro‐environmental practices can emerge. Backpacking, nature tourism, foraging tourism, camping, and craft tourism can provide the knowledge and skills for living enjoyable low resource intensive lifestyles, and indicate how relations of hospitality may persist despite scarcity. The paper advances geographical knowledge in three areas. First, it expands and clarifies what the ‘vernacular’ actually constitutes. Second, it shows how a greater understanding of the vernacular beyond the household can advance cultural geographical scholarship on the environment. Third, it argues that a deeper engagement with practice theory would boost research in this area by connecting vernacular responses performed at the individual level with broader postcapitalist social movements.

Folktales about the Plague and Healing Practices against It in Narrative Folklore

The contribution discusses the narrative folklore about the plague, most notably how it spread, how people tried to protect themselves against the disease and how they treated it in Slovenian territory and, to some extent, within the wider European framework. The first part presents the analysis of folktales in which the Plague, personified as a demonic figure, roams from place to place, from one land to another. The second part focuses on steps taken to prevent the disease from spreading and means of protection against it, as well as healing, charms, incantations, and other vernacular practices during the epidemic.

Sacred Practices of the Christian Orthodox and the Muslims in the Mixed Shrines in the Devoll Region (South-East Albania)

The article portrays the mixed sacred practices of the Christians and the Muslims in the Devoll region in southeastern Albania: in the Satrivaç Orthodox sanctuary in the village Hoçisht (Satrivaç or Shatrivaç) and the Bektashi sanctuary in the village Kuç (Inonisht). Based on the materials of the field work in Devoll in July 2019 and July 2021, the authors consider how sacred practices in the space of sanctuaries are distinguished by representatives of different (ethno)confessional groups of pilgrims (Orthodox and Muslim, Albanian, Macedonian, and Roma), as well as how practices of different genesis (Orthodox, Islamic, vernacular) are associated with the idea of a common sacred place (vakëf) regardless of its nominal confessional affiliation on the level of language and rituals. Considering the same audience of visitors and pilgrims in Satrivaç and Inonisht, the authors focus on the parallelism of sacred practices, elements of the infrastructure of the sanctuaries, and related terminology. Nevertheless, against the background of convergent vernacular practices and tolerant acceptance of religious differences, collective identities based on religious affi liation remain relevant boundaries in the communication of various Balkan communities.