Ritual and Sustainabiliy

re_en v isioning ri t ua l

a culture at odds with sustainabilit y

j e n c o o k

m i c h È l e g u i m o n d

re_

en

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ion

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a culture

at

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with

sustainability

je

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MAX BRUINSMA

"Every design, in essence, is a criticism of a context for which it has been produced."

EDITORIAL

PRODUCED ON 100% POST CONSUMER MATERIAL

PRINTED IN CANADA @

BOUND @

EDITED BY

JEN COOK AND MICHÈLE GUIMOND

KIM PATRICK O'LEARY AND JONATHAN MEPHAM

TOTAL GRAPHICS3865 First AvenueBurnaby, BCV5C 3V 6

Emily Carr University of Art + Design1399 Johnston Street , Granvil le IslandVancouver BC V 6 H 3R 9

This book was produced solely for the reason and condition of a graduation project at Emily Carr University 2010. It shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without prior authorisation from the editors.

This book has been mindfully and carefully produced. Nevertheless the authors and editors do not warrant the information contained in this book to be free of errors. Readers are advised to keep in mind that statements, data, illustrations, procedural details or other items may inadvertently be inaccurate.

C O N T E N T SØ 1 T A B O O 20

FUTURE TABOOS 25

ØØ I N T R O D U C T I O N 15

[...] CIVIC RITUAL & SOCIAL MEANING 18

WORKS CITED 96

IMAGES & FURTHER READING 98

Ø2 P U R I F I C A T I O N 32

CLEAN SPACE 34

Ø3 R I T E S O F P A S S A G E 44

LIFE LAND MARKS 50

Ø4 S P I R I T U A L E X E R C I S E 54

[...] POOR IMAGE OF SUSTAINABILITY 58

TRAVEL NORMS 60

[...] BICYCLE DIARIES 64

Ø5 W O R S H I P 66

[...] TELEVISION VIEWING AS RITUAL 71

MONO MEDIA 72

Ø6 S H A M A N S 76

TRANSFORMERS

Ø7 E T I Q U E T T E 86

CULTURE CUES 90

“ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E

G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H

W H I C H TA K ES I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C

D I M E N S I O N S O F D E V E LO P M E N T ACT I V I T I E S. ( 1 ) ”

"OUR COMMON FUTURE"

BRUNDTLAND REPORT, 1987

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

DEFINITION SUSTAINABILITY

“ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E


W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C

D I M E N S I O N S O F D E V E LO P M E N T ACT I V I T I E S. ( 1 ) ”

W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C

D I M E N S I O N S O F D E V E LO P M E N T ACT I V I T I E S. ( 1 ) ” D I M E N S I O N S O F D E V E LO P M E N T ACT I V I T I E S. ( 1 ) ”

“ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E “ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E


“ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E “ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E

G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H

7

" A L M O ST A LL M A I N ST R E A M S U STA I N A B I L I T Y M E A S U R E S I M P L I C I T LY AS S U M E T H AT T H E P R O B L E M CA N

B E S O LV E D T H R O U G H G R E AT E R M AT E R I A L A N D E C O N O M I C E F F I C I E N CY A N D T EC H N O LO G I CA L “ F I X ES,”

I G N O R I N G T H E E V I D E N C E T H AT, TO DAT E , S U C H ST R AT E G I E S H AV E ACT UA LLY I N C R E AS E D T H E H U M A N

E C O FO OT P R I N T ( 7 )."

"THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS AND SELF-

DELUSION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE

BUILDING SECTOR"

WILLIAM E. REES

[...]



I G N O R I N G T H E E V I D E N C E T H AT, TO DAT E , S U C H ST R AT E G I E S H AV E ACT UA LLY I N C R E AS E D T H E H U M A N I G N O R I N G T H E E V I D E N C E T H AT, TO DAT E , S U C H ST R AT E G I E S H AV E ACT UA LLY I N C R E AS E D T H E H U M A N I G N O R I N G T H E E V I D E N C E T H AT, TO DAT E , S U C H ST R AT E G I E S H AV E ACT UA LLY I N C R E AS E D T H E H U M A N





RITUAL USES SYMBOLIC ACTIONS

TO COMMUNICATE A FORMING OR

TRANFORMING MESSAGE IN A

UNIQUE SOCIAL SPACE.

SY M B O L I C ACT I O N S : ACT I O N S T H AT C O M M U N I CAT E

P R I M A R L I Y T H R O U G H SY M B O LS, S E N S E S,

A N D E M OT I O N S.

FO R M I N G A N D T R A N S FO R M I N G : E I T H E R BY R E -

I N FO R C I N G T H E STAT U S Q U O BY FO R M I N G P E O P L E ' S

WO R L DV I E W S, I D E N T I T I E S, A N D R E L AT I O N S H I P S O R

BY AS S I ST I N G I N T H E P R O C E S S O F C H A N G E .

S O C I A L S PAC E : A U N I Q U E S PAC E S E T A S I D E F R O

N O R M A L L I F E .

"RITUAL AND SYMBOL

IN PEACEBUILDING"

LISA SCHRICH

9

7 CATEGORIES OF RITUAL

[MO]MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE_ The way in which the ritual is enacted

[LSF]LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION_The human behaviour which motivates the ritual

11

"THE CULTURAL DIMENSION

OF SUSTAINABILITY"

DAVIDE BROCCHI

"FOR UNDERSTANDING WHAT MAKES

CULTURE SUSTAINABLE, WE SHOULD ASK

WHAT HINDERS OR PROMOTES THE

CULTURAL EVOLUTION OF PEOPLE.(2)"

[ I N T R O D U C T I O N ]

I N T R OLooking around me at my coff ee cup, oven,

running shoes, computer, and so on, I can

see the word sustainability. If it is not on the

packaging then it easy to fi nd on the com-

pany’s corporate website, most often

accompanied by a little green leaf. The word

(and the leaf ) are becoming increasingly pre-

sent in our lives, attached to a huge range

of products, services, and movements. Yet

despite having knowledge of this term for

more than 30 years, the implementation of

sustainability on a mass scale is a persistent

struggle. Yes, many of us recycle, some peo-

ple ride bicycles, and most of us, if asked, say

that of course we care about sustainability. But

have we really changed the way to do things, to

produce and to manufacture?

The current information ‘campaigns’ cen-

tered around sustainability, undertaken by

some of the worlds leading scientists, activ-

ists and pop science books, are currently very

successful at communicating how we are not

changing fast enough, despite being sub-

merged in little green leaves. We still consume

beyond capacity and according to the world’s

most learned on the subject, we are still

hurtling towards environmental Armageddon.

But if all the scientifi c knowledge we need

is there, why are the changes not happening

quickly enough?

One of the new proposed answers to this

question, is that in the drive towards solv-

ing sustainability the focus, in discourse and

implementation, has been on three pillars,

social, economic and environmental but has

failed to address the fourth pillar—culture

(3). The current mechanisms used to address

sustainability focus primarily on technocratic

solutions that preserve cultural norms and

largely omit an analysis of the construct of

these norms. One of the ways we might exam-

ine these norms is through our rituals. All

the items listed above (my coff ee, my running

shoes, my oven and my computer) form part

of my daily rituals. However, apart from letting

little green leaves drive my consumer choices,

ultimately my rituals have made very few pro-

gressive changes in sustainability.

Winston Churchill once said: “First we

shape our buildings, thereafter they shape

us.”.(2) We as human beings are embedded

in the constructs of our own cultural archi-

tecture.(4) Just as how the buildings we live

in shape us, constructs of our cultural spaces

inform how we live our lives as well. It is

quite diffi cult, therefore, to step away from

and be objective about our own culture

—essentially it is a little like asking a fi sh to

see water. As described by the Erik Assadou-

rian, Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch

Institute “The cultural norms, symbols, val-

ues, and traditions a person grows up with

become “natural”. Thus asking people who

live in consumer cultures to curb consumption

is akin to asking them to stop breathing—they

can do it for a moment but then, gasping they

inhale again.”(4)

I N T H E D R I V E TOWA R D S S O LV I N G S U STA I N A B I L I T Y

T H E FO C U S H AS B E E N , I N D I S C O U R S E A N D

I M P L E M E N TAT I O N , O N T H R E E P I LL A R S, S O C I A L ,

EC O N O M I C A N D E N V I R O N M E N TA L A N D H A S L A R G E LY

FA I L E D TO A D D R ES S A FO U RT H – C U LT U R E T H I S

B O O K I S A N AT T E M P T TO R E F L ECT O N W H AT

I N FO R M S O U R C U LT U R A L A R C H I T ECT U R E , TO

‘ S E E’ F R O M O U TS I D E . A VA N TAG E P O I N T T H AT

H O P E F U LLY R A I S ES Q U EST I O N S A B O U T O U R

C U LT U R A L S PAC E . T H I S N E W VA N TAG E P O I N T

W E H AV E D E F I N E D AS R I T UA L .

13

D U C T I O N

JEN COOK

MICHÈLE GUIMOND

So, this book represents our attempt to

refl ect on what contributes to, and informs

some of our cultural architecture, to help

us ‘see’ from outside. A vantage point that

hopefully raises questions about our cultural

space. This new vantage point we have defi ned

as ritual.

Ritual has played a large, and largely

undervalued, role both in regulating and

perpetuating human behaviour. Often, dis-

cussions of ritual relate to religious and

primitive cultures. However, it is diffi cult to

ignore their underlying presence in a con-

temporary secular society. If you consider for

a moment, ritual exists everywhere in our

society—from buying a coff ee in the morning,

our personal grooming regime, and inter-

personal etiquettes, to more grand gestures

that help support transition through life

stages, for example in funerals and weddings.

Rituals are born from the need to create mean-

ing around what we do, and to regulate how

we enact that meaning. Fundamentally, ritual

can be regarded as the enactment of beliefs

and values.

The enactment of ritual varies in gran-

deur, function and manifestation. However,

these enactments fall loosely into 7 catego-

ries: Taboo, Purifi cation, Rites of Passage,

Spiritual Exercise, Worship, Shamans and Eti-

quettes (5). Each of these categories has both

a latent social function (why they started) and

a manifested objective (how they manifest as

enactment). This book looks at both latent

social function and manifestation of the 7 cat-

egories of rituals both as means of off ering a

new vantage point of how they regulate current

cultural spaces and how they might inform the

development of new cultural foundations.

As communication designers, our role in

the sustainability equation frequently is valued

as relatively passive. Normally when designers

enter into the sustainability discourse they do

so via the techno-solution route, addressing

the problem through material usage mostly

—a realm that is more relevant to industrial

designers. The function of a communication

designer is to communicate ideas—therefore,

as storytellers and image-makers we have a

role to play in driving and creating new cul-

tural narratives.

What we have set out to do in this book

must be prefaced with the statement that as

two communication designers we are not

attempting to write a new discourse around

sustainability. We are inspired by people such

as Eirk Adassourian and Wiliam Rees, who

have dedicated their careers and lives to tack-

ling one of the biggest challenges facing

humanity. This book is an attempt to engage

a wider audience in thinking about and dis-

cussing sustainability as a cultural concern

rather than purely a scientifi c or technological

challenge.

We have approached this exciting new

emergent discourse with a combination of

interpretation of academic work and personal

refl ection as it pertains to the existence of ritu-

als in mass culture. Assuming our readers to

be familiar with some of the scientifi c facts

about the ecological crisis, we do not set out

to prove any of them but instead use our skills

as Communication Designers to expose visu-

ally where ritual, culture, and sustainability

interact. For those interested, there is a list of

works cited at the back of our publication for

further reading and understanding. We chose

to utilize our own observations regarding rit-

ual and sustainability in our lives, and for that

reason this book sets out to be non-prescrip-

tive and we welcome audience interpretation.


15

“NO CULTURE CAN HAVE ANY EFFECT IF IT ISN’T COMMUNICATED, THOUGHT

AND LIVED THROUGH SOCIAL AGENTS. HOW CAN WE BRING A CULTURE OF

SUSTAINABILITY TO PEOPLE? HOW CAN WE CHANGE THEIR WAY OF THINKING?

HOW CAN SUSTAINABILITY BE LIVED?(2)”

"THE CULTURAL DIMENSION

OF SUSTAINABILITY"

DAVIDE BROCCHI


Large-scale public rituals are widely viewed

as contributing to the cohesion of a society or

group; yet today many observers detect a trend

away from common ritual practices. From a

normative standpoint, there is some agree-

ment that this is not necessarily a sign of social

progress and enlightenment. Mary Douglas

argues that one of the gravest problems today

is the lack of commitment to common social

symbols, and she regards the anti-ritualism

trend disapprovingly as an ineffective way of

humanizing society. In her view, it would be

more practical to experiment with more flex-

ible institutional forms, and to seek to develop

their ritual expression than to reject all ritual

expression as socially primitive or psychologi-

cally regressive. The contemporary decline of

common ritual behavior forms creates a vac-

uum wherein unsatisfied demand for symbolic

interaction generates strong social pressures

for new modes of ritual involvement [..].

Ritual is often studied side by side with

social mythology. […] From this perspective

ritual is modeled as a medium of social com-

munication, even as a language in a quite

literal sense. Ritual serves to define the way to

do things, and to provide a series of tools and

techniques for social behavior. It crystallizes

customs; it fixes public meanings; and defines

social order memberships.

Ritual serves to make symbolic state-

ments about the social order. In this capacity

it structures social cognitions. The role of

ritual in the social coding of experiences, can

be described as the "imprinting" function

of ritual. By providing a common vision for

social groups, ritual links the past with the

future. […] Among those who have special-

ized in the study of human ritual action, there

is considerable consensus about its social

identity and bonding functions. These aspects

are particularly visible in various secular, civic

rituals which cluster around themes of social

cohesion, community, and inclusion/exclu-

sion. Identification with the group is enhanced

with the ritual use of symbolic vehicles such as

songs, pledges of allegiance, myth-recitation,

and holiday celebrations with their character-

istic modes of dress and consumption (6).

CIVIC RITUAL AND SOCIAL MEANING

[...] exerpt

"RITUAL BEHAVIOUR &

CONSUMER SYMBOLISM"

DENNIS W. ROOK

17

LARGE-SCALE PUBLIC RITUALS ARE

WIDELY VIEWED AS CONTRIBUTING

TO THE COHESION OF A SOCIETY OR

GROUP; YET TODAY MANY OBSERVERS

DETECT A TREND AWAY FROM COMMON

RITUAL PRACTICES.

T A B O OT A B O O

19

Ø1RITUAL

T A B O OT A B O O

[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]

MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF TABOO

21

AN AVOIDANCE OF CERTAIN VISIBLE

THINGS:FOODS,PLACES,PEOPLE,OBJECTS

WHICH ARE FELT TO BE A SOURCE OF

IMPURITY OR CONTAMINATION

F U T U R E

[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]

TA B O O S H AV E A LO N G H I STO RY I N H U M A N

C U LT U R E A N D H AV E I N FO R M E D M A N Y

B E H AV I O U R S, VA LU ES A N D B E L I E FS.

TA B O O S CA N B E U N D E R STO O D AS H AV I N G

B OT H A P O S I T I V E A N EG AT I V E R O L E TO P L AY

I N T H E C R E AT I O N A N D P E R P E T UAT I O N O F

C U LT U R A L P R ACT I C ES.

Without doubt the green movement has been

instrumental in bringing the notion of sustain-

ability into mass culture and has contributed

to the advancement of the current discourse

around the issue. As with any revolution, the

sustainability revolution relies on those who

work tirelessly at the periphery to change

incumbent cultural paradigms. However,

we would argue that as with the early stages

of other cultural revolutions, the sustain-

ability revolution in its infancy remains largely

excommunicated from mainstream discourse

(apart perhaps from corporate green-market-

ing mandates). For many people the notion

of sustainability remains an abstract concept

rather than what activists cry for: a dialecti-

cal unifying ideology. Sustainability remains

in the everyday world as a kind of cultural

paradigmatic taboo. It is the elephant in the

room at corporate and government strategy

meetings about economic growth and it is

the elephant that equally sits next to me in the

changing room at my favourite clothing store

as I buy yet another shirt that I do not need.

Taboos are ingrained in human culture and

inform many behaviours, values and beliefs.

The manifestation of a taboo is an avoidance

of certain visible things—foods, places, peo-

ple or objects— which are felt to be a source

of impurity or contamination (1). Therefore,

taboos perpetuate and/or enforce avoidance

to that which is perceived as outside of the

norm and, as such, are an attack on values

or persons. Today, the predominant cultural

paradigm, certainly in the West and spreading

fast throughout the world, is defi ned by eco-

nomic growth and consumerism. Therefore,

it is not diffi cult to see how it becomes taboo

for a business person to talk of aiming for

less, rather than more, economic growth and

'unnatural' for me to question the purchase

of that shirt. Unbridled economic growth

and unbridled consumerism underpin not

only our cultural practices (production), but

also our cultural values and mythology. As

such, humans living and acting within this

cultural space, are embedded, moulded and

constrained by the cultural systems that are

23

TA B O O S

For instance, the contamination on an eco-

logical level caused by strawberries existing

in a store in January is not attached to any

cycle. Every time we go into a store, regard-

less of season, they continue to exist in

plenty. There is evidence, however, that

taboos are emerging as regulators of contem-

porary behaviours. To drive an ostentatious

gas-guzzling vehicle such as a Hummer is

viewed now by many groups as taboo. Its

increasing recognition as a symbol of con-

tamination has enabled it be considered as a

threat to norms. In the drive towards sustain-

ability, necessarily, an agreement will emerge

about what social practices represent a threat

to our norms and contaminate our cultural

space.

borne of this paradigm (2). Thus, to a large

degree in our current cultural space, sustain-

ability symbolizes a threat to human norms

and a contamination of our current values.

Or as William Rees (creator of the term “eco-

logical footprint”) points out, sustainability is

dialectically at odds with our current cultural

mythology (3). By this defi nition sustainability

is taboo.

In new discourse around sustainability

there has to be a shift towards including social

anthropology and psychology as a means

of understanding how to integrate sustain-

ability culturally rather than trying to solve

it technocratically. It is not enough to ret-

rofi t technological fi xes onto unsustainable

practices, at some point we need to start ques-

tioning what motivates them in the fi rst place.

This means not only must we understand the

values that drive unsustainable practices, but

calls for an analysis of the evolution of human

behaviour. In ecologist’s William Rees' paper

“What’s blocking sustainability? Human

nature, cognition, and denial”, he points to

the importance of assessing innate human

tendencies and the signifi cant role they play in

the human eco-economic behaviour (3). Rees

argues that if “ we do not acknowledge their

existence, we will not be able successfully to

manage them” through “countervailing cir-

cumstances such as moral codes, cultural

taboos, legal prohibitions, or other social

inhibitors” (3) In this approach, the very tools

that contributed to unsustainable cultural

practices could now be repurposed to promote

sustainable practices.

As cultural regulators, taboos have

functioned, in human history, to regulate

unsustainable behaviours For instance, in

some tribal communities the ‘chief ’ would

deem a certain species of fish taboo at par-

ticularly times of year. This was to prevent

the species being over fished during the fish’s

reproductive season, ensuring its survival and

that of the tribes own resources. In a contem-

porary society there is a greater gap overall

between our behaviours and their effects as

an attack of our norms or as contiminating.

[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]

"ULTIMATELY, WHILE HUMAN BEHAVIOR IS ROOTED IN EVOLUTION AND PHYSIOL-

OGY, IT IS GUIDED PRIMARILY BY THE CULTURAL SYSTEMS PEOPLE ARE BORN

INTO. AS WITH ALL SYSTEMS, THERE ARE DOMINANT PARADIGMS THAT GUIDE CUL-

TURES—SHARED IDEAS AND ASSUMPTIONS THAT, OVER GENERATIONS, ARE SHAPED

AND REINFORCED BY LEADING CULTURAL ACTORS AND INSTITUTIONS AND BY THE

PARTICIPANTS IN THE CULTURES THEMSELVES. TODAY THE CULTURAL PARADIGM

THAT IS DOMINANT IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD AND ACROSS MANY CULTURAL

SYSTEMS IS CONSUMERISM.(2)"

"THE RISE AND FALL OF

CONSUMER CULTURE"

ERIK ADASSOURIAN

[...]

25

[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]

LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF TABOO

27

TO IDENTIFY AND MAINTAIN THE

BOUNDARIES OF GROUPS; TO

MAINTAIN A SENSE OF

PERSONAL BOUNDARY

[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]

"PREVENTING THE COLLAPSE OF HUMAN

CIVILIZATION REQUIRES NOTHING

LESS THAN A WHOLESALE TRANSFOR-

MATION OF DOMINANT CULTURAL PAT-

TERNS. THIS TRANSFORMATION WOULD

REJECT CONSUMERISM—THE CULTURAL

ORIENTATION THAT LEADS PEOPLE TO

[...]

"THE RISE AND FALL OF

CONSUMER CULTURE"

ERIK ADASSOURIAN

29

FIND MEANING, CONTENTMENT,AND AC-

CEPTANCE THROUGH WHAT THEY CONSUME

AS TABOO AND ESTABLISH IN ITS

PLACE A NEW CULTURAL FRAMEWORK

CENTERED ON SUSTAINABILITY. IN THE

PROCESS, A REVAMPED UNDERSTANDING

OF "NATURAL" WOULD EMERGE."

P U R I F I C AT I O N

31

Ø2RITUAL

P U R I F I C AT I O N

C L E A N

[ Ø 2 P U R I F I C AT I O N ]

The word "object" comes from the Latin

objectum, meaning "thing thrown before

or presented to the mind or thought". The

objects with which we surround ourselves also

take up mental space—each one has a history

of its own, and represents our experiences,

thoughts, and projections of self. Examining

my possessions revealed a range of facets of

my life—dreams, insecurities, and impulsive-

ness to name a few. Of course, there are the

objects that served practical purposes in my

life—toothbrush, bedsheets, towels plates and

cutlery. These make my life easier. But what

of that olive green Sunbeam handheld mixer

I bought second hand almost three years ago

that is lying on my shelf ? This object spoke

of someone I wanted to be at the time—the

kind of person who enjoys baking on a regu-

lar basis. Finding that cute little mixer invoked

enough excitement in me, at the prospect of a

house smelling like baked goods, to purchase

it. Since then? Well, while I do make a killer

zucchini-walnut loaf, the cute mixer mostly

sits there unused. Now, the object becomes a

burden - the possibility of its future use keeps

it in my kitchen, but its presence simultane-

ously assigns guilt at my not using it.

Objects of a projected (or perceived) self

are what a consumer society is based upon;

nothing is more motivating than something

that sells a life or lifestyle that you crave and

want to have. These objects can also function

as signifi ers—messages to others that denote

taste, character, and values. What does it imply

that I own more vinyl than CDs? That my fur-

niture is mostly second-hand, and favours

mid-century design? Or that my DVD collec-

tion includes both Big Trouble in Little China

and Rosemary's Baby? Clothing purchases

are even more prone to this kind of self-pro-

jection—the fashion industry is fuelled on

crafting images, playing roles and "dressing

the part". Consumer culture touts conform-

ity disguised as individual choice—setting

oneself apart from the crowd in their choice

of soft drink, shoes, or mayonnaise. This has

decidedly negative consequences, however,

as identity becomes "… a refl exive, ongoing,

individual project shaped by appearance and

performance. This freedom, however, comes

at the cost of security; without fi xed rules, the

individual is constantly at risk of getting it

wrong, and anxiety attends each choice.".(1)

We have all felt it, the paralysis of choice when

we are presented with two (or more) options

with equal benefi t and consequence. It has

been shown, according to Barry Schwartz, that

these kinds of decisions can only lead to dis-

satisfaction, as whatever choice is made, in

the end we can't help wondering if the other

option was, in fact, the better one.

The decision to reduce my belongings by

half had been percolating in my mind for a

T H E WO R D " O B J ECT " C O M ES F R O M T H E

L AT I N O B J ECT U M , M E A N I N G " T H I N G

T H R OW N B E FO R E O R P R ES E N T E D TO T H E

M I N D O R T H O U G H T."

33

S PAC E

while. Initially, it was the frustration of con-

stantly sorting, folding, putting away, and

organizing. This, coupled with limited time

with which to deal with all this stuff made

my living space feel congested, as though I

was losing a battle of my own design—these

objects were in my life by choice, mostly. I

began to look at the objects in my life more

analytically, and the process has been inter-

esting. Initial excitement gave way to anxiety

at the loss of an identity, constructed however

haphazardly over the years. What has kept me

persevering, however, was the cataloguing of

my stuff in the fi rst place which gave me a total

of nearly 1000 objects. I was shocked and then

became even more determined to act. The fi rst

stages of the process went quickly. As I zeroed

in on piles of stuff I knew I could give away eas-

ily I felt I was well on my way to a detachment

from my things. Around the halfway mark,

however, resistance surfaced and decisions

were no longer as easily made. While in the

moment of decision, I felt anxiety and strong

attachment to the things I own, once the deci-

sion was made I no longer cared. Perhaps it

is true then, that an object really only exists

when it is "thrown into view". These feelings

made no rational sense, and I began to wonder

what might be causing such a strong reaction

to things that I barely considered otherwise?

Out of necessity to achieve my goal I also had

to approach objects of sentiment, gifts from

over the years, heirlooms from family mem-

bers, souvenirs from trips and the like. This

is where it became ugly; to give away some

of these objects is akin to throwing away the

memory. There is a certain sacredness to these

objects which makes it diffi cult to let go, a

connection to your past and the people in your

life that is somehow honoured in these things.

I selected the objects with the most meaning to

keep, and resolved that the gesture of the other

objects would simply exist in my memory.

Our economy is moving increasingly from

a goods-based to a services-based format.

Companies like Zipcar, who loan products or

provide services are attending to a changing

attitude towards ownership of goods. Why buy

a car you hardly use when you can rent one,

cheaply, only when needed? Why does every

household on the block need to have a toolbox

when only a few would do? Community shar-

ing not only makes sense in terms of lowering

material consumption, it also builds commu-

nity ties - a crucial part of a sustainable future.

To me, sustainability does not mean having

to give up feeling or looking good, or being

surrounded by beautiful things. It does not

mean I can not buy things, or receive gifts. I

believe that a simpler life is more sustainable,

and being freed from the mental burden of

clutter is included in that. By limiting myself

I free myself from the burden of infi nite

choice created by consumerism. I spend less

time searching for clothing, less time tidying

up and less time wondering if I should have

bought the "other" one instead of "this" one. I

couldn't say if doing something like this would

benefi t everyone, but what I can say is, is that I

can see the clean lines of my apartment, and

breathe easier.


35


P U R I _F I CT I O N

M E T H O _D O LGY _ 4P E R S O N A LWHEN I DECIDED TO GET RID OF

%50 OF MY THINGS HERE ARE THE

QUESTIONS I ASKED MYSELF

37

03 DO I KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD

LOVE THIS MORE THAN ME?

01 CAN I GET RID OF THIS?

(I might need it later, I remember how much I loved it when I bought it,

It’s perfectly good, I should find a use for it,

It was hard to find, It was expensive, But it’s so cool,

So and so gave it to me, It reminds me of)

02 WOULD I BUY THIS AGAIN?

04 IS THIS ADDING TO MY LIFE?


THE DECISION

TO

CUT

MY BELONGINGS IN

39

1/2

HAD

BEEN IN

MY HEAD FOR

A WHILE


LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF PURIFICATION

41

TO DETACH SELF FROM EXTERNAL INFLUENCES IN ORDER

TO RE-ATTACH TO A PARTICULAR GROUP OR IN SOME CASES

TO RE-ATTACH TO AN INNER, REAL SELF

R I T E S O FP A S S A G E

43

R I T E S O FP A S S A G E

Ø3RITUAL

[ Ø 3 R I T E S O F PA S S A G E ]

45

MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF RITES OF PASSAGE

TO REAFFIRM SOCIAL VALUES AND NORMS

ASSOCIATED WITH BEING A MEMBER OF GROUP


LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF RITES OF PASSAGE

47

TO PROVIDE RITUAL FORMS FOR TRANSITIONAL

PHASES OF LIFE: PREVALENT USE OF SYMBOLISM

OF BIRTH AND DEATH

LIFE


Like the other categories of rituals, rites of

passage have both a manifested ritual objective

and a latent social function. The manifestation

of rites of passage can be understood broadly

as providing a series of understood system for

ritualizing (ceremonies, artifacts) the tran-

sitional phases of life, particularly with birth

and death (1). The seems the more obvious way

we understand this in contemporary culture.

However, the latent social function, which is

to reaffi rm the social values and norms asso-

ciated with being a member of a group; to

navigate the limbo state between life stages, is

arguably the more sinister hidden side of this

type of ritual when viewed in a consumer soci-

ety. In consumer culture micro rites of passage

are ensued every time a purchase is made. A

new car, a new pair of jeans, skin cream, book

or album might, on some level at least, oper-

ate as a ticket to a desired social circle—or the

maintaining of inclusion in an existing one. In

such subtle but manipulative ways consumer

goods are presented to us as the vehicle to nav-

igate through social groups. These micro rites

of passage have now to a large degree infi l-

trated through our values, norms and down to

our subconscious, as "[w]hen rites of passage

disappear from conscious presentation, they

nonetheless appear in unconscious and semi-

conscious guises.". (4)

As well as its latent social function it is easy

to see how the more recognized manifested

objective maps perfectly onto a consumer

culture. Attaching material associations to

inevitable life stages create consumerist ritu-

als hiding under the guise of 'tradition'. Rites

of passage can be individual, familial, or com-

munity-based; sometimes divided by gender,

sometimes purely social creation but often

revolve around biological stages. Biologically

determined transitions throughout history

have been marked by ritualistic ceremonies

involving artifacts. However, in consumer

culture these transitions are now becoming

increasingly exaggerated displays of material

wealth. The value of transition is also has a

monetary price tag attached to it.

R I T ES O F PAS SAG E F U N CT I O N TO H E L P

N AV I G AT E T WO D I ST I N CT T Y P ES O F

E V E N TS ; B I O LO G I CA L L I F E- STAG ES

A N D T H E M OV E M E N T B E T W E E N A N D

A M O N G S O C I A L C I R C L ES.

49

L A N D

MARKS

need to reach some kind of fruition. Here the

consumerist impulse breeds unchecked as "...

consumption activities [restore] harmony to

an ambiguous, incongruous, or unsatisfying

self-concept.". (3) In a culture rooted in indi-

vidualism, rites of passage have merely been

suppressed—away from community-based

support and recognition and towards private

reward—the new expensive suit for your fi rst

job out of college.

The key aspect of a rite of passage in terms

of its latent social function is to leave one

social group for another, the transformation of

one's personal identity in order to be accepted

into a new social order. Attaching a material

exchange to this process signals to the com-

munity that the transformation is complete.

A high school graduation ceremony; a baby

shower; or fi rst car. These life-cycle landmarks

are so intertwined with their socially accepted

materialistic forms that to not receive the

expected gift or ceremony is almost shameful.

In some cases, consumer culture has created

these rites out of thin air, or so successfully

appropriated traditional methods in favour

of a self-perpetuating consumer pattern.

De Beers, for instance, has so successfully

fabricated the tradition of diamond engage-

ment rings that many people who partake in

this now-convention are unaware that it was

manufactured by a corporation who invented

it to save their declining business. A national

campaign including the now-famous line "A

Diamond Is Forever" and a fl eet of actresses in

Hollywood wearing rings as public displays of

betrothal, and this new ritual took hold on the

American public.

If the marking of a rite of passage is an

important way to connect with new social

groups, it may also by extension be a way of

connecting with the continuity of humanity. To

acknowledge the entrance to a new life-stage

is to accept one's own mortality, and simulta-

neously to recognize a place within the history

of humanity. Engaging in a tradition or ritual

surrounding this transition period is a way to

deal with these uncontrollable conditions of

life. Ritual's function in this area is to convey

a sense of continuity in time and history as

enacted through repetitive behaviours - to take

solace in the collectively familiar in an unfa-

miliar situation.

Between the previous self and new self lies a

limbo state, where the subject lies in between

and belonging to neither. Within this limbo

state between role transitions lies a highly

vulnerable point of dissatisfaction and the


51

COULD IT NOT BE SAID AT THIS TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY WE ARE IN

SUCH A LIMBO STATE IN REGARDS TO SUSTAINABILITY A TRANSFORMA-

TION OF IDENTITY FROM ONE WE HAVE OUTGROWN INTO ONE THAT WE DO

NOT YET KNOW? WITHOUT RITUALISTIC SIGNPOSTS, OR THE SENSE OF

CONTINUITY PROVIDED BY A RITE OF PASSAGE IN PARTICULAR, WE ARE

LEFT WITHOUT TRADITION AND CONVENTION TO HELP US NAVIGATE THIS

INEVITABLE TRANSITION. AS MUCH AS THIS CONTRIBUTES TO UNEASE AND

CONFUSION, IT IS ALSO OPPORTUNITY TO ENGINEER NEW TRADITIONS AND

RITES OF PASSAGE, ONES THAT RESPOND IN A DELIBERATE AND ENLIGHT-

ENED WAY TO THE CHALLENGES THAT LIE AHEAD, ROOTED WITHIN HUMAN

POTENTIAL, CONNECTIVITY AND INTELLIGENCE IN CONGRUENCE WITH

ECOLOGICAL AWARENESS.

[CON'T] LIFE LAND MARKS

S P I R I T U A LE X E R C I S E

53

Ø4RITUAL

S P I R I T U A LE X E R C I S E

[ Ø 4 S P I R I T U A L E X E R C I S E ]

MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF SPIRITUAL EXERCISE

55

TO SEEK UNITY WITH SOME SACRED OTHER BY LIVING IN

ACCORD WITH A DISCIPLINE, WHICH REQUIRES PARTICULAR

FORMS OF BEHAVIOUR


The UNEP (United Nations Environment Pro-

gram) study says much of the communication

around sustainable lifestyles has tended to

be from environmental groups and govern-

ment and either 'prescriptive, patronising

or disapproving'.

'Rather than turn people on to the vast

opportunities and enjoyment sustainable life-

styles can bring, they have turned people off ,'

says Townsend.

What’s lacking, she argues, is a vision.

‘Nobody aspires to live a policy. People aspire

to what they can see, feel, touch; some-

thing tangible. We don’t have a passionate,

eloquent, visual description of sustainable life-

styles, so people don’t know they want them.’

Futerra's 'Sell the Sizzle' report, taking its

"DO ENVIRONMENTALISTS

HOLD BACK SUSTAINABLE

LIFESTYLES?"

UNEP

[...]

name from a salesman’s advice to ‘sell the siz-

zle’ rather than the sausage, argues that while

the science may be what policymakers want

to talk about, it is not what people want to

hear about.

‘For years we’ve tried to ‘sell’ climate

change, but a lot of people aren’t buying,'

Townsend says. 'Threats of climate hell

haven’t seemed to hold us back from running

headlong towards it. We must build a visual

and compelling vision of low carbon heaven.

And this vision must be desirable.

‘If [it] isn’t more desirable than what we’ve

got now then why bother reaching for it?’

POOR IMAGE OF SUSTAINABILITY

57

REACHING A BIGGER AUDIENCE

However, creating a single 'desirable' vision

of a sustainable lifestyle won't be enough on

its own, according to Dr Michael Peters, from

the Research Group on Lifestyles Values and

Environment (RESOLVE) at the University

of Surrey.

‘Initiatives that attempt to connect with

people and engage in more sustainable

ways tend to attract people who are already

‘switched on’ environmentally, so there’s a big

barrier in connecting with people for whom

environmental issues are not a key priority,’

he says.

Peters says that in some cases the peripheral

benefi ts of lifestyles that exert less impact on

the environment should be highlighted, such

as the savings that can be made by running an

energy effi cient household.

‘If the moral environmental argument

doesn’t resonate, then perhaps the fi nancial

savings could.’

MEASURING HAPPINESS

Others believe that the issue goes deeper than

simply selling the benefi ts or desirability of a

sustainable lifestyle - the biggest barrier of all

may be social pressures and how we measure a

happy and successful life.

In the industrialised world especially,

this tends to be gauged in terms of material

wealth. The traditional yardstick is that of

consumption, typically viewed as an indica-

tion of well-being and wealth by economists

with GDP regarded as the last word in meas-

uring progress, development and prosperity of

a society.

But, as the UNEP study on sustainability

points out, GDP is not a reliable indicator of

happiness or satisfaction. A quick look at the

New Economics Foundation's (NEF) Happy

Planet Index reveals that those countries

with the highest GDP are not ranked as

the happiest.

In fact, the top ten countries are all Latin

American or Caribbean (bar Vietnam), with

Costa Rica topping the ranks. Rich industri-

alised nations fall somewhere in the middle

– the UK ranks 74th behind Germany, France

and Italy, while the USA is way behind at 114th

out of 143.

Juliet Michaelson, a researcher at the NEF,

agrees that the perception of what drives

happiness presents a barrier to people living

sustainable lifestyles.

‘As long as signs of success, both indi-

vidually and at a societal level, are to do with

material possessions and wealth then there is

a big incentive to gear our behaviour towards

producing those things,’ she says.

‘Those things are not the biggest driver of

well-being. Things such as your social rela-

tionships have a much bigger role to play (2).

TRAVEL


I am neither religious Nor a green activist, and

I struggle with the notion of prescribed ways

of living. But increasingly, like many people, I

have begun to subscribe to the new ‘discipline’

of sustainability through my rituals and asso-

ciated behaviours. Some of my ‘rituals’ and

choices about my lifestyle are more ration-

alised in terms of being directly informed by

discourse around sustainability (eating little

or no meat, banning strawberries in Decem-

ber etc…), some rituals have become much

more naturalized, such as recycling and drink-

ing from a reusable mug. However, one of my

rituals and choices about my lifestyle is not a

rationalised devotional act to being green but

more a devotional act to self pleasure. My cho-

sen form of transport – a bicycle.

Many people see my decision to ride a bike

as a devotional act to the ‘discipline’ of sus-

tainability. Because the car is perceived as

the normal form of transport, my decision to

adopt a behaviour outside this norm is consid-

ered alternative. However, I have a confession.

I do not ride a bike because I think I am sav-

ing the planet. I ride a bike because it makes

me feel good. It has become a highly ritualized

and extremely sacred part of my day. I do not

see each journey as some form of self-fl ag-

ellation in honour of the “great green deity”

or earth. I ride a bicycle because it gives me

great pleasure.

Lifestyle is a defi ned as a “way of using cer-

tain goods, places, times that is characteristic

of a group.” (1). Lifestyles are not passive in a

consumer culture but constructed through a

range of consumption choices. Symbolically

our lifestyle choices are tied to the construc-

tion of a desired identity. A design of a lifestyle

is not only about just daily or personal experi-

ence but a marking of status (1). The clothes

we wear, the gym to which we have member-

ship, the place we do our grocery shopping

and the way we choose to travel all link us to a

lifestyle group. And, to maintain our affi liation

to a lifestyle tier or group, we must conform to

particular forms of behaviour.

I do not drive a BMW (although I do own a

car). My transport- mobile consists of a lovely

T H E B I K E I S T H E W O R L D ' S M O ST W I D E LY

U S E D FO R M O F T R A N S P O RT.

59

NORMS

5 speed 'Dutch' designed bike. The design of

this bike dates back more than a century and,

like an Eames chair or another design artifact,

I admire my bicycle for its sophistication and

as an ingenious piece of design. Essentially, my

view is that my bike is as sophisticated a form

of transport as the BMW. I realize that this

equitable view of a bike and a car is not shared

by all people in North America. Unfortunately,

in North America, unlike in Europe, cycling

does not have as much “street cred”, respect

or acceptance. Therefore, to bike to a busi-

ness meeting as opposed to pulling up in a

Bentley in many respects does not carry the

same status.

Unfortunately the lack of street credibility

for biking in North America is shared to some

degree with the lack of credibility of sustain-

ability. In more contemporary discourse, as the

previous article suggests, the current media

image of sustainability, as with any poor mar-

keting campaign, could be hindering its sale,

acceptance or credibility. Subscriber num-

bers to this new discipline are low. Arguably

this is related in part to the way sustainability

is marketed. The practices related to this new

discipline, like more classic forms of spiritual

exercise, emphasize self-denial.

My personal case study has made me

consider, what could be argued as the

current marketing campaign around sustain-

ability. Other than the problem of its image

being lodged in 'granolafi ed' hippiedom,

unlike successful marketing campaigns, the

campaign to sell sustainability appears to be

failing to address what motivates the behav-

iours of potential 'buyers'. My decision to

ride a bike is not based on the fact that I think

my self-denial of driving a car will save the

planet. My choice of transport is motivated by

a desire to improve the quality of my life. For

me cycling is more akin to a practice like Yoga;

it is a meditative practice that has health ben-

efi ts and a form of spiritual exercise more than

a physical one. Cycling is about self-refl ection

more than ideological subscription.

Perhaps its diffi cult to consider ‘selling’

sustainability by convincing each individual

of the need to give up objects and rituals for

the “greater good” of humankind. Most good

campaigns start with addressing how to shift

someone's perception so that they begin

to value what is being sold in a new way. In

North America, for instance, a major problem

in converting more people to cycling, apart

from just convenience, is related to a percep-

tion about what value it has in terms of a mode

of transport. As the bike continues to be

viewed as uniquely as form of exercise and not

seen as an accessible and sophisticated form

of transport it will preserved as such.

It is clear that simply prescribing a disci-

pline does not lead to its adoption. Therefore

the second part of a new sustainability cam-

paign must address the types of positive

personal experience that can motivate change

in personal behaviours. Bicycling connects me

more closely to my environment, it increases

my health, it lowers my cost of living, allows

me a space for meditation, allows me to feel

more a part of community and makes me

excited about ingenious design. I believe that a

shift in the sustainability campaign away from

self-denial towards these benefi ts might be

more eff ective in achieving sustainability.


LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF SPIRITUAL EXERCISE

61

TO RE-AFFIRM THE NORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DISCIPLINE


"I've been riding a bicycle as my principal

means of transportation in New York since the

early 1980s. I tentatively first gave it a try, and

it felt good even here in New York. I felt ener-

gized and liberated. I had an old three-speed

leftover from my childhood in the Baltimore

suburbs, and for New York City that's pretty

much all you need. My life at that time was

more or less restricted to Manhattan-the East

Village and SoHo-and it soon became appar-

ent to me that biking was an easy way to run

errands in the daytime or efficiently hit a few

clubs, art openings, or nightspots in the even-

ing without searching for a cab or the nearest

subway. I know one doesn't usually think

nightclubbing and bike riding as soul mates,

there is so much to see and hear in New York,

and I discovered that zipping from one place

to another by bike was amazingly fast and

efficient. So I stuck with it, despite the aura of

uncoolness and the danger, as there weren't

many people riding back then. […] As I got

older I also may have felt that cycling was a

convenient way of getting some exercise, but

at first I wan't thinking of that. It just felt good

to cruise down the dirty potholed streets. It

was exhilarating.

By the late 80s I'd discovered folding bikes,

and as my work and curiosity took me to

various parts of the world, I usually took one

along. That same sense of liberation I expe-

rienced in New York recurred as I pedalled

around many of the world's principal cities. I

felt more connected to the life on the streets

than I would have inside a car or taxi for get-

ting from point A to point B; and I didn't have

to follow any set route. The same exhilaration,

the air and street life whizzed by, happened

again in each town. It was for me addictive.

This point of view-faster than a walk-slower

than a train, often slightly higher than a per-

son-became my panoramic window on much

of the world over the last thirty years-and it

still is. It's a big window and it looks out on

a mainly urban landscape. (I'm not a racer or

a sports cyclist.) Through this window I catch

glimpses of the mind of my fellow man, as

expressed in the cities he lives in. Cities, it

occurred to me are physical manifestations

of our deepest beliefs and our often uncon-

scious thoughts, not so much as individuals,

but as the social animals we are. A cognitive

scientist need only look at what we think and

what we believe to be important, as well as

how we structure those thoughts and beliefs.

It's all there in plain view, right out in the

open; you don't need CAT scans and cultural

anthropologists to show you what's going on

inside the human mind; its inner workings are

manifested in three dimensions, all around us.

Our values and hopes are sometimes awfully

embarrassingly easy to read. They're right

there - in the storefronts, museums, temples,

shops, and office buildings and in how these

structures interrelate, or sometimes don't.

They say, in their unique visual language,

"This is what we think matters, this is how we

live and play." Riding a bike through all this

is like navigating the collective neural path-

ways of some vast global mind. It really is a

trip inside the collective psyche of a connected

group of people. […]

BICYCLE DIARIES

[...]

INTRODUCTION FROM

"BICYCLE DIAIRIES"

DAVID BYRNE

63

Riding a bike won't stop climate change or many other dire predictions from happening in our

lifetimes, but maybe if some cities face climate, energy and transportation realities now they

might survive. […] I don't ride my bike all over the place because it is ecological or worthy. I

mainly do it for the sense of freedom and exhilaration. I realize that soon I might have a lot more

company than I have had in the past, and that some cities are preparing for these inevitable

changes and are benefiting the result (3).

OUR VALUES AND HOPES ARE

SOMETIMES AWFULLY EMBAR-

RASSINGLY EASY TO READ.

THEY'RE RIGHT THERE IN THE

MUSEUMS, SHOPS, AND OFFICE

BUILDINGS AND IN HOW THESE

STRUCTURES INTERRELATE,

OR SOMETIMES DON'T. THEY

SAY, IN THEIR UNIQUE VISUAL

LANGUAGE, "THIS IS WHAT WE

THINK MATTERS, THIS IS HOW

WE LIVE AND PLAY."

W O R S H I P

65

Ø5RITUAL

W O R S H I P

[ Ø 5 W O R S H I P ]

MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF WORSHIP

67

“MEDIA BUSINESSES HAVE A PROFOUND

IMPACT ON MARKETS AND SOCIETIES

THROUGH THEIR ABILITY TO INFORM,

EDUCATE, INFLUENCE AND ENTERTAIN;

AND THROUGH THEIR OWN CONTENT

AND THE ADVERTISING THEY CARRY,

THEY HAVE A PERVASIVE INFLUENCE

ON GLOBAL PATTERNS OF CONSUMP-

TION. AS SUCH THEY ARE CRITICAL

TO WHETHER THE PLANET ACHIEVES

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.”

INVOLVES FIVE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS,

WHICH IN PARTICULAR TRADITIONS MAY

BE GIVEN MORE OR LESS EMPHASIS

"WHY MEDIA COMPANIES

SHOULD BEHAVE

MORE RESPONSIBLY"

DAVID GRAYSON

GUARDIAN UK

[ Ø 5 W O R S H I P ]

WALTER CRONKITE

69

"THE TELEVISION RECEIVER IS NOT UNLIKE THE MEDIEVAL CATHEDRAL WHICH

SERVED AS A FOCAL POINT FOR THE CULTURE AND A WINDOW TO RITUALS WHICH

WERE CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT[...]. VIEWERS RITUALISTICALLY ENTER INTO

'TELEVISIONLAND' WHICH IS NOT AS MUCH A WORLD OF FANTASIZED FACT AS IT IS

OF FACT FANTASIZED. IT IS ALSO A DREAM WORLD IN WHICH THE DEEPEST NEEDS

AND DESIRES OF THE SOCIETY ARE DEPICTED IN LIVING COLOR EIGHTEEN BROAD-

CAST HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. AND THROUGH RERUNS WE SHARE IN A

KIND OF LIVING HISTORY OF THE MEDIUM AND THE CONCERNS IT SHARED WITH THE

SOCIETY. TELEVISION VIEWING IS QUITE SIMPLY THE AMERICAN RITUAL. AND IT

WILL REMAIN THE AMERICAN RITUAL—UNIVERSAL, OMNIPRESENT, AND APPARENTLY

SATISFYING—UNTIL IT IS REPLACED BY AN EQUALLY SATISFACTORY CULTURAL

EXPERIENCE. MOST RITUALS ARE ACCOMPANIED BY CONSIDERABLE MANIFEST LIT-

URGY, BUT THE TELEVISION VIEWING RITUAL HAS BEEN LARGELY INTERNALIZED,

THUS REDUCING THE VISIBILITY OF ITS LITURGY FOR THE NON-SERIOUS CULTURAL

ANALYST[...].THIS HOUSEHOLD GOD MAY BE LARGELY TAKEN FOR GRANTED, BUT

THAT DOES NOT DIMINISH ITS AWESOME CULTURAL POWER.(1)"

"TELEVISION VIEWING

AS RITUAL"

MICHAEL T. MARSDEN

RITUALS AND CEREMONIES

IN POPULAR CULTURE

[...]

MEDIAMONO

[ Ø 5 W O R S H I P ]

The term worship is used classically to

describe a primarily religious enactment

of devotion to someone or something. The

subjects/objects of devotion and how this

devotion is enacted are determined by the

ideological system of the believer. In today’s

democratic and secular societies increasingly

it is the monolithic media with their celeb-

rity fi gureheads that play the largest role as

preachers and sermon givers of contemporary

mass ideologies. Thus in many ways media

contribute to determining our subjects/objects

of devotion, what we value and how we value

these subjects/objects. Most of us rely primar-

ily on TV and newspapers to keep up to date

with the state of moral climate, while enter-

tainment shows (popular culture, fi lm and

music) provide us with our idols. As stated in

the previous excerpt from Rituals and Ceremo-

nies in Pop Culture “The television receiver is

not unlike the medieval cathedral which served

as a focal point for the culture and a window

to rituals which were culturally signifi cant.

Television provides a series of common shared

experiences and images which have become

part of the collective and shared traditions

of our society.” (1). The media, much like a

church, forms the space in which social and

cultural ideologies are circulated and ulti-

mately absorbed. The media in all its forms

becomes extremely powerful as a provider

of mass collective experience and the pri-

mary circulator of ideological beliefs and

cultural norms.

Arguably one of the main omissions in

the current discourse around sustainability

is the failure to expose and demand account-

ability from the media. There are already

regulatory bodies who control standards of

language, explicit content, and advertising,

but nowhere is the media held accountable

for promoting unsustainable lifestyles. The

burden of accountability is most often found

squarely in the manifested behaviours of the

individual or corporations. A famous quote

from Allen Ginsberg, an infl uential writer

and poet in the 1960s; “Whoever controls

the media; the images; controls the culture”

quite succinctly illustrates the notion of the

power of the media in the control of cul-

ture. It stands to reason then that media,

as with any other cultural head (state or

church), is necessarily accountable in terms

of the future of cultural integration of sus-

tainability. As quoted in a recent article in the

UK’s Guardian:

“Media businesses have a profound impact

on markets and societies through their ability

to inform, educate, infl uence and entertain;

andthrough their own content and the adver-

tising they carry, they have apervasive infl uence

on global patterns of consumption. As such

theyare critical to whether the planet achieves

sustainable development.”.(2) So there is

T H E M O N O L I T H I C M E D I A H AS B EC O M E E X T R E M E LY

P OW E R F U L AS P R OV I D E R O F M AS S C O LL E CT I V E

E X P E R I E N C E A N D T H E P R I M A RY C I R C U L ATO R O F

I D EO LO G I CA L B E L I E FS A N D C U LT U R A L N O R M S.

71

little debate about the power and importance

of media in a democratic society. As discus-

sed in the introduction of the book “The

Business of Media: Corporate Media and the

Public Interest”:

“In important respects, the business of

media is unique. Unlike other industries, the

media deal in ideas, information and culture.

They inform and entertain us, influencing

how we understand ourselves and our world,

as well as how we spend our leisure time.

Because they play such significant political and

cultural roles, the media hold a unique posi-

tion in democratic societies that value free and

creative expression, independent thought, and

diverse perspectives. Indeed in recognition

of this public interest role, the only busi-

ness protected by the U.S. Constitution is the

“free press”. (3)

The power of the media in contemporary

society has come under ever increasing criti-

cism as the concentration of media ownership

has continued to be dominated by fewer and

fewer companies. Media now, like everything

else in a capitalist society, is a commercial

enterprise “whose primary function is creat-

ing profits for owners and stockholders.” (3).

News along with entertainment has become

a product to be ‘sold'. In the United States,

8 corporations own the media from which

most people derive their news. These include:

Viacom, GE (owner of NBC), News Corp.,

Microsoft, Google, AOL-Time Warner, Disney

and Yahoo (4). These profit-driven corporate

giants therefore stand at the altar of today’s

reports on culture and ultimately of the moral

climate of society.

The issue with this concentration of own-

ership and business run media is perhaps

self evident. As profit-driven mega corpora-

tions the “yardstick by which the business

performance of media companies is meas-

ured by investors includes few notches that

mark public interest concerns about creativity,

independent thought, and diversity. Instead

the measurements gauge sales, advertis-

ing revenue, and profits.” (3). William Rees

asserts that “we are trapped in a collective

cultural mythology oriented around the idea

of boundless economic growth” and that this

mythology is itself at odds with sustainability.

(5) As media stands at the centre of these cul-

tural narratives, little is set to change without a

challenge to who is standing at the altar con-

trolling the messages.

[ Ø 5 W O R S H I P ]

THIS CHALLENGE HAS BEGUN AS PARTICIPATORY MEDIA EXPANDS THANKS TO

TECHNOLOGIES LIKE THE INTERNET. USERS ARE MORE AND MORE AT THE CEN-

TRE OF CONTENT PRODUCTION, AND INFORMATION IS FOUND ACTIVELY, NOT

PASSIVELY. THEREFORE PARTICIPATORY MEDIA CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AS MEANS

THROUGH WHICH TO BOTH CHALLENGE THE MONOLITH OF MEDIA BY DEMAND-

ING TRANSPARENCY WHILE SIMULTANEOULSY INCREASING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

ON ISSUES LIKE THOSE RELATED TO SUSTAINABILITY.(5) PARTICIPATORY

[CON'T] MONO MEDIA

73

MEDIA ENABLES A TWO WAY CONVERSATION RATHER THAN A PASSIVE EXPERI-

ENCE THROUGH MEDIA. SOCIAL STAKEHOLDERS ARE EMPOWERED RATHER THAN

UNIQUELY FINANCIAL. IN THE DRIVE TO SHIFT CURRENT CULTURAL MYTHOLOGY,

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT POWER LIE NOT UNIQUELY IN THE HANDS OF THOSE

WHO ARE INVESTED IN PROTECTING UNSUSTAINABLE CULTURAL PARADIGMS FOR

THEIR OWN SELF INTEREST.

S H A M A N S

75

Ø6RITUAL

S H A M A N S

[ Ø 6 S H A M A N S ]

MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF SHAMANSMANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF SHAMANS

77

TO AUGMENT PERSONAL POWER/STATUS, TO RE-ATTACH THOSE

WHO ARE MARGINAL BY VIRTUE OF ILLNESS, WEAKNESS,

OR DEPRESSION. TO AUGMENT SENSE OF CONFIDENCE

T R A N S

[ Ø 6 S H A M A N S ]

Modern-day ‘shamans’ exist in abundance

in our culture; our popular media is littered

with self-appointed 'experts' of all kinds. One

of the more obvious cultural spaces inhabited

by these shamans is the makeover TV show.

Highly visible TV show personalities act as

dispensers of advice, facilitators of change

and transformers of lives, and pitchers of mer-

chandise. Their subjects are the participants,

members of society who feel, for whatever

reason, that some portion of their lifestyle and

identity leads them to fall outside the realms

of acceptance and by implication, to not reach

their full potential. The subjects look to these

pseudo-shamans to fi x whatever they think is

broken in their lives. The shamans critique,

analyze, and revamp lifestyles with the aim

of facilitating a transition to a new realm, the

realm of mainstream acceptance. The vehicle

for such a transformation, and thus apparent

acceptance, could be anything from losing

weight, plastic surgery, a new wardrobe, dance

lessons, or purging clutter.

Mostly these TV shamans facilitate a move

from the fringes of society to the center of the

mainstream consciousness. In a consumer

society, one's belongings— cars, houses or

pets, act as appendages of self, therefore

a bodily transformation can extend to the

artifacts of their lifestyle ("Pimp My Ride")

("Debbie Travis' Facelift") ("Dog Whisperer").

For one to be ‘cured’ and to attain acceptance

everything must fi rst be seen as broken and

then be looked at critically. So if a shaman's

power lies in reinforcing norms, might they

not also be eff ective in a challenging of the

centre, the heart of mainstream values? (1).

According to makeover shows and the majority

of media discourse in today’s society, the only

cure for social malaise is by buying into domi-

nant cultural paradigms. However, what does

it look like to buy into a sustainable life? What

needs to be exorcised and how?

Makeover TV is perhaps a response to "…a

heightened sense of cultural vulnerability, cou-

pled with declines in tradition, religion, and

politics". (1) With fewer of these traditional

structures and the fi gureheads associated with

them, the role of the spiritual and cultural

leader has increasingly fallen upon the shoul-

ders of personalities in the media. Those who

feel as if they have fallen outside the realms

of acceptance look for guides and leaders that

can help them to take the necessary meas-

ures to fi nd their path back to acceptance,

accordingly "[m]akeover logic can bring the

margins to the centre”.(1) Therefore can make

over logic be applied to bring sustainability to

the centre?

These 'experts' begin a 'recovery' by a

critical analysis and assessment of the partici-

pant’s bothersome ailments. Like a spiritual

shaman, these lifestyle shamans must diag-

nose and identify the source of the plague in

order to exorcise it. This process is normally

carried out by walking through the partici-

pant’s house, riff ling through their wardrobe,

M O D E R N - DAY ‘ S H A M A N S’ E X I ST I N

A B U N DA N C E I N O U R C U LT U R E ; O U R

P O P U L A R M E D I A I S L I T T E R E D W I T H

S E L F-A P P O I N T E D ' E X P E RTS ' O F

A LL K I N D S

79

FORMERS

Green TV shamans have already begun

to appear. A program called Green Kerala

Express has emerged in India. It is a reality

show which off ers a large cash prize to the

residents of the state of Kerala who can suc-

cessfully integrate more sustainable practices

into their communities. There has been a

huge response; the network has received over

250 entries, ranging from eliminating pesti-

cides in farming practices, turning waste into

biofuel, and replacing incandescent bulbs.

The state of Kerala is comprised of rural com-

munities, so the solutions will most likely be

low-cost and creative, further adding to the

ingenuity of the show. Most interestingly,

however, is that their defi nition of 'green'

includes everything from agriculture, water

conservation, food and social security, to

health, education, energy, housing, and wom-

en's rights - a much more holistic view of the

constituents of 'sustainability' than is most

often presented. The goal of the game is the

overall health and well being of these commu-

nities, in both the ecological environment and

the social environment.

This approach is perhaps a more pro-

gressive way to self-improvement; given an

incentive (such as a lump sum of cash from

the government), each community is encour-

aged to examine localized ways to improve

their lives. Participants then are no longer

passive in the decisions involved in the

makeover process but instead they become

involved in determining the change. There is

no prescription from government, managers,

directors or “ higher ups” on the process to

achieve this improvement however ingenuity

and creativity are encouraged. Of course, hav-

ing access to people with specialized training

is key, and pooling knowledge and skills

is essential to achieving joint goals. In this

example, the environment after the makeover

means a stronger community web, increased

community self-suffi ciency, and the new-

found ability to call upon the wisdom and

power of the community as a whole to solve

problems and improve lives.

watching video of their daily life or bringing

out the tape measure. Our pseudo-shaman

'experts', through their role as shepherds to

'health', act as representatives of society at

large. For the audience watching on TV, their

value systems are being reaffi rmed by the

shaman—being fat, living in a dated house,

or driving a bland car is at best, undesirable,

and at worst, completely unacceptable. Once

the problem is diagnosed the participant then

embarks on the path to the cure, a process

dictated by the shaman. This could mean any-

thing from a boob job to throwing away half

their wardrobe. This process can be painful as

the participant is relinquishing control of their

identity to the shaman, but along with the

cure lies the promise of a new self. The par-

ticipant, after being cured, is then presented to

the audience with the notion that this altered

vision was always present 'underneath it all'.

Increasingly, there are more and more

pseudo-tv-shamans who pop up prescrib-

ing a sustainable lifestyle. The problem with

these kinds of prescriptions is that rather than

addressing unsustainable cultural paradigms,

they often simply prescribe 'greener' ways

down the same path, They “implicitly assume

that the problem can be solved through greater

material and economic effi ciency and techno-

logical “fi xes,’” (2). This ignores “the evidence

that, to date, such strategies have actually

increased the human ecofootprint” (2). While

experts, both self-proclaimed and genuine,

cannot agree on the constituents of a truly sus-

tainable lifestyle, what remains clear is that a

new approach needs to be taken on a cultural

level. Unlike green shamans, the TV shamans

tend to look at the motivators of underlying

behaviour - the disease and not the symptoms

- in order to integrate long term solutions. For

someone to loose 50+ lbs it is not enough to

tell someone to go on a diet. What needs dis-

cussion and action is the reason that leads

a person to overeat in the fi rst place. In that

way, when it comes to sustainability, maybe

we all need a good shaman guiding the way,

assessing what motivates our ever increasing

desire to ‘over eat’.

[ Ø 6 S H A M A N S ]

LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF SHAMANS

81

TO SEEK SACRED POWER, USUALLY BY SEEKING

TO HAVE A MYSTICAL LIKE EXPERIENCE; TO CALL

UPON EXTRAORDINARY SACRED POWERS TO HEAL,

GAIN POWER OR WISDOM

[ Ø 6 S H A M A N S ]

83

E T I Q U E T T EE T I Q U E T T E

85

E T I Q U E T T EE T I Q U E T T E

Ø7RITUAL

[ Ø 7 ETIQUETTE ]

LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF ETIQUETTE

87

TO REGULATE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PERSONS IN

DIFFERENT SOCIAL POSITIONS, TO RE-ASSERT

VALUES OF THESE POSITIONS

CULTURE

[ Ø 7 ETIQUETTE]

E T I Q U E T T ES A R E C O D ES T H AT G OV E R N

T H E E X P ECTAT I O N S O F S O C I A L B E H AV I O U R

AC C O R D I N G TO T H E C O N T E M P O R A RY

C O N V E N T I O N A L N O R M W I T H A S O C I E T Y,

S O C I A L C L AS S O R G R O U P

In thinking about etiquette I was reminded of

a memorable scene from the emerging cult

TV series “Mad Men”. Don and Betty Draper,

the protagonists of the show set in 1960, are

shown enjoying a picnic in the countryside

with their children. To a modern day viewer,

it is shocking to witness the family’s seem-

ing lapse in decorum as they packed up their

quintessential picnic basket and drove away

leaving a huge pile of rubbish on the ground

behind them. It is interesting to note, however,

the sharp contrast in the values of the viewer

and the characters on the show; the Draper

family conforms to almost every social code

of the day.

The show itself serves as a visual memoir

of mid-century America, illustrating not only

the style, but the values and ideologies that

drove the social landscape of the time. What

this scene, and the show in general, illustrates

is the shift in paradigms, and ultimately eti-

quettes, that have occurred between then and

now. Whereas in the past it was bad etiquette

to refuse a cigarette and scotch mid-morning

at work or it was not considered bad etiquette

to litter, today we frown up, discourage and

legislate against these acts.

Often in academic discourse etiquettes

are omitted in the discussions around social

theory in favour of discussion on ethics and

morality. “Mad Men” illustrates the power

that etiquettes have on regulating behaviours.

Etiquettes are codes “that govern the expec-

tations of social behaviour according to the

contemporary conventional norm with a soci-

ety, social class or group” (1). Hence, before

the widespread Litter Bug campaigns in North

America that illustrated throwing your gar-

bage on the ground as a bad social practice,

littering was not considered particularly bad

form. Marketing and education are the vehi-

cles for spreading new ethical codes, however,

I would argue that the mechanisms by which

these codes are embedded relates more to

how they are socially regulated in systems for

recognition and identifi cation of a person's

89

CUES

“ faux pas” or bad behaviour. Growing up as

part of the "litterbug" school of thought I do

remember as a child the diff erence between

being told by teachers that littering was bad

and being made fun of by my friends if I threw

litter on the ground. I would argue that the

stigma attached to doing something deemed

socially poor by my peers was signifi cantly

more potent in its eff ect. The fear of being

excluded socially for committing a social faux

pas is extremely motivating.

Etiquettes, like taboos, act as counter-

vailing mechanisms to regulate behaviour.

Etiquettes “usually refl ect formulas of con-

duct in which society or tradition have

invested […] and therefore refl ect an under-

lying ethical code.” (1). As such, etiquettes

are embedded not only in dominant global

cultural paradigms but are also culturally

specifi c. For example, most Western busi-

nessmen have experienced the anxiety in

dealing with disparity in etiquette when

travelling to Asian countries, even with a

simple customary greeting. This specifi city

of cultural regulators presents an interesting

challenge when considered in relation to the

necessary global implementation of sustain-

ability. Etiquettes will continue to regulate

culturally specifi c traditions but they will need

to shift and expand to respond to emergent

global paradigms.

All the ritual categories in this book con-

tinue to contribute to the way we negotiate

through our cultural architecture but they

do not dictate the foundations. As the “Mad

Men” episode described earlier suggests,

etiquettes and indeed ethical codes are not

genetically inherited and are not inevitabili-

ties (2). Rather they are responsive to evolving

ethical codes. Increasing global capitalism

has caused many Western rituals (and indeed

the underlying ethical codes that determine

them) to be adopted across the globe. Indeed

many people now aspire to white weddings,

two-car garages and the vision of a life that

was born out of characters like Betty and

Don Draper. It seems fair to assume that if the

widespread adoption of rituals that are under-

pinned by global capitalism can transgress

cultural specifi city, then so can the rituals that

underpin sustainability.

[ Ø 7 ETIQUETTE]

MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF ETIQUETTE

91

TO INDICATE APPROPRIATE FORMS OF BEHAVIOUR

IN RELATION TO PARTICULAR SETTINGS

93

WORKS CITED

Ø Ø INTRO

Ø 1 TABOO

[ W O R K S C I T E D ]

THE WORKS CITED, AS WITH THE WORKS REFERENCED, IS INTENDED TO PROVIDE READERS WITH A PLACE TO GO

FROM HERE IN TERMS OF READING ON THE CULTURAL INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABILITY. THIS REPRESENTS A SUM-

MARY OF OUR FINDINGS AND RESEARCH. THE WORKS CITED IS BROKEN UP PER SECTION AND CITES THE SOURCES

QUOTED DIRECTLY IN THE EDITORIAL . HAPPY READING.

1 _ UN General Assembly Distr: General 11 December 1987. UN DOCUMENTS:REPORT OF THE WORLD COMMISSION

ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT. 12 September 2010.

<un-documents.net/a42r187.htm>

2 _ Brocchi, Davide. THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF SUSTAINABILITY. 6 March 2008. 12 November 2010. (27, 28).

<http://www.davidebrocchi.eu/doks/2008_newfrontier.pdf>

3 _ Nurse, Keith. CULTURE AS THE FOURTH PILLAR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. University of the West Indies

Tr inidad and Tobago. Prepared for Commonwealth Secretariat Malborough House Pall Mall London UK. June

2006. 12 October 2010.(33)

<fao.org /sard/common/ecg /2700 /en/Cultureas4thPil larSD.pdf >

4 _ Assadourian, Erik. STATE OF THE WORLD: THE RISE AND FALL OF CONSUMER CULTURES. (3, 6)

<blogs.worldwatch.org /TRANSFORMINGCULTURES>

5 _ Browne, Ray. B. RITUALS AND CEREMONIES IN POPULAR CULTURE . Bowling Green, OH. Bowling Green State

University Popular Press. 1980.

6 _ Rook, Dennis W.. RITUAL BEHAVIOR AND CONSUMER SYMBOLISM Advances in Consumer Research.

University of Southern California. Volume 11, 1984 (279-284). 20 October 2010. [ . . .]

<acrwebsite.org /volumes/display.asp?id=6258>

7 _ Rees, Wil l iam E . (2009) THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS AND SELF-DELUSION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE BUILDING

SECTOR”, BUILDING RESEARCH & INFORMATION, 37:3,300-311.


University Popular Press. 1980 (29)

2 _ Assadourian, Erik. STATE OF THE WORLD: THE RISE AND FALL OF CONSUMER CULTURES.(3)

<blogs.worldwatch.org /TRANSFORMINGCULTURES>

3 _ Rees, Wil l iam. WHAT’S BLOCKING SUSTAINABILITY? HUMAN NATURE, COGNITION, AND DENIAL . School of

Community and Regional Planning, University of Brit ish Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Sustainabil ity: Science,

Practice, & Policy Fall 2010, Volume 6. Issue 2. 10 October 2010.

<ejournal .nbii .org>

4 _ Brocchi, Davide. THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF SUSTAINABILITY. 6 March 2008. 12 November 2010. (27, 28).

<davidebrocchi.eu/doks/2008_newfrontier.pdf>

Ø 2 PURIFICATION

Ø 3 RITES OF PASSAGE

1 _ Dittmar, Helga and Hall iwell , Emma. CONSUMER CULTURE, IDENTITY AND WELL-BEING: THE SEARCH FOR THE

GOOD LIFE . Psychology Press, East Sussex. England, 2004.


University Popular Press. 1980

2 _ Bell , Catherine. RITUAL: PERSPECTIVES AND DIMENSIONS. Oxford University Press, 2009.

95

3 _ Schouten, John W. PERSONAL RITES OF PASSAGE AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF SELF. Advances in Consumer

Research Volume 18, eds. Rebecca H. Holman and Michael R. Solomon, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer

Research. 1991(11)

4 _ Mahdi, Louise Carus. CROSSROADS: THE QUEST FOR CONTEMPORARY RITES OF PASSAGE . Carus Publishing

Company, 1996.(55)

Ø 4 SPIRITUAL EXERCISE

Ø 5 WORSHIP

Ø 6 SHAMANS

Ø 7 ETIQUETTE

1 _ Evans, David and Tim Jackson. TOWARDS A SOCIOLOGY OF SUSTAINABLY LIFESTYLES. Resolve Working Paper.

Resolve. 03-07.

2 - Byrne, David. BICYCLE DIAIRIES. London, UK. Faber and Faber Ltd. 2009 (1-3)

3 _ Guardian (UK): DO ENVIRONMENTALISTS HOLD BACK SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES .United Nations Environment

Programme. The Environment News. Friday 06 August 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.

<unep.org /cpi/briefs/2010 Aug06.doc>

1 _ Marsden, Michael T. RITUALS AND CEREMONIES IN POPULAR CULTURE . Bowling Green, OH. Bowling Green State

University Popular Press. 1980 (100-110)

2 _ Grayson, David. WHY MEDIA COMPANIES SHOULD BEHAVE MORE RESPONSIBLY. Guardian.co.uk. 13 August 2009.

2 November 2010.

<guardian.co.uk/sustainabil ity/media-sustainable-development-corporate-responsibil ity>

3 _ Croteau, David and Wil l iam Hoynes. THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA: CORPORATE MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST.

California, US. Pine Forge Press. 2006.

1 _ Weber, Brenda R. MAKEOVER T V; SELFHOOD, CITIZENSHIP AND CELEBRITY. Duke University Press, 2009. (p 112)



Practice, & Policy Fall 2010, Volume 6. Issue 2.


1 _ “Etiquette” Reference.com. 28 November 2010.

<reference.com/browse/Etiquette



Practice, & Policy Fall 2010, Volume 6. Issue 2.


IMAGES

WHEREVER POSSIBLE WE HAVE USED OUR OWN PHOTOS FOR THE IMAGES THROUGHOUT THE BOOK, HOWEVER THE

OTHERS WERE SOURCED FROM THESE OTHER CITES. THEY ARE GREAT RESOURCES FOR RIGHT’S FREE IMAGES.

America from the Great Depression to World War I I : Color Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1939-1945

<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsachtml/fsacSubjects01.html>

Flickr – The Commons

<fl ickr.com/commons>

<fl ickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/>

PHILIPS-Design Probes Downloads

<design.phil ips.com/sites/phil ipsdesign/probes/downloads/food.page>

Smithsonian Images Archive

<http://smithsonianimages.si .edu/siphoto/siphoto.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=home>

Timelife Pictures

<timelifepictures.com/ms_timepix/source/home/home.aspx?pg=1>

Wikipedia:Public domain image resources

<en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources>

United Nations Environment Programme

<postconfl ict .unep.ch/sudanreport/sudan_website/index_photos_2.php?key=water%20 pollution

97

WORKS REFERENCED & OTHER READING

Adassourian, Erik. STATE OF THE WORLD: TRANSFORMING CULTURES 2010. Worldwatch Blog. 29 November 2010.

<blogs.worldwatch.org /transformingcultures/contents/media/>

Bell , El izabeth. Theories of Performance. Sage Publications Inc. 2008

Boons, Frank and Howards-Grenvil le, Jennifer, eds. THE SOCIAL EMBEDDEDNESS OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY. Edward

Elgar Publishing, Inc. 2009.

Clay, Jason: HOW BIG BRANDS CAN SAVE BIODIVERSITY. Ted.com. August 2010. 20 September 2010.

<ted.com/talks/lang /eng /jason_clay_how_big _brands_can_save_biodiversity.html>

Dunstan, Joseph C. and Swan, Geoffrey M. THE ETHICS OF SUSTAINABILITY. The George Wright Society, 7th

Conference on Research & Resource Management in Parks and on Public Lands, November 19, 1992.

<nps.gov/sustain/spop/ethics.html>

Kohn, Jorg. SUSTAINABILITY IN QUESTION: THE SEARCH FOR A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK. Glos, UK. Edward Elgar

Publishing Limited. 1999.

Lemonick, Michael . D. Top 10 MYTHS ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY. Scientif ic America Online. 9 March 2009.

( September 2010.)

<scientif icamerican.com/article.cfm?id=top-10-myths-about-sustainabil ity>

Rockstrom, Johan. LET THE ENVIRONMENT GUIDE OUR DEVELOPMENT. Aug 2010. 20 September 2010.

<ted.com/talks/johan_rockstrom_let_the_environment_guide_our_development .html>

Sachs, Jonah. IS SOCIAL MARKETING OUR LAST CHANCE TO CHANGE PEOPLE? Ecologist .13 Apri l 2010.

11 November 2010.

<.theecologist .org /how_to_make_a_difference/culture_change/462379/is_social_marketing _our_last_

chance_to_change_people.html>

Storey John. CULTURAL CONSUMPTION AND EVERYDAY LIFE . Hodder Arnold. 1999

Thackara John. IN THE BUBBLE: DESIGNING IN A COMPLEX WORLD. Massachusettes, US. MIT Press. 2006.

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