Dear Professor Jonathan M Woodham,
Thanks very much for your very quick answer.
I didn't want to say, of course, that design history has not developed,
particularly in the UK. I was very interested in just that given the
conference proceedings "Future for the foundations, Doctoral Education in
design", La Clusaz, July 2000.
My point is not that I have chosen to ignore the need for a specialised
field of study which engages design, history, society, economy, etc... On
the contrary.
My point deals with a method which would help to understand how we can ask
questions in the area of industrial design history and how to organize the
relationships between these specific questions and history in general.
It is just to think about a tool for teachers who are in charge of
industrial design history in vocational schools which train designers.
I am not in the field of University research but I regret the rift between
specialised research and the field as it is dealt with in vocational
schools...
I must add that even if we have important researchers in design history in
France, we don't have university research as historically constituted as in
the UK.
But that is changing, for example the creation of the publication -eïdes-
(first issue in February 98) by the Society of Design History and theory of
design.
Yours faithfully,
Jocelyne Le Boeuf
Directeur des Études
L'école de design Nantes Atlantique
Atlanpole - La Chantrerie
rue Christian Pauc
BP 30 607
44 306 Nantes cedex 3 - France
Tél. 33 2 51 13 50 70
Fax. 33 2 51 13 50 65
[log in to unmask]
www.lecolededesign.com
> De : [log in to unmask]
> Répondre à : "A forum for the discussion of design historical issues,
> and the exchange of" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date : Wed, 9 Jan 2002 16:06:05 -0000
> À : [log in to unmask]
> Objet : Re: research program in the history of design
>
> Dear M Le Boeuf
>
> I was interested in some of the points you make, although i would suggest
> that the discipline of design history has developed considerably further
> than you imply, both at curriculum level (BA and MA) and, possibly more
> importantly, at PhD level, let alone in terms of published academic
> research.
>
> One or two observations may suffice as an opening. You mention John A
> Walker's text from 1989 but possibly ignore a number of journal articles
> which give a more informed and recent articulation of the state of play.
> Walker's book has been rendered redundant (or relatively so) by the
> emergence of many of the specialist undergraduate and postgraduate design
> history courses in Britain. Nor do you really appear to engage with
> consumerism at all; nor do you appear to acknowledge the need for a
> specialised field of study (established as it is in the UK) which engages
> with design, history, society, culture, economics etc as central constructs,
>
> Regards
>
> Jonathan Woodham
>
>
>
> Professor Jonathan M Woodahm
> Director
> Design History Research Centre
> University of Brighton
> Grand Parade
> Brighton
> BN2 2JY
> UK
>
> Tel: +44 (0)1273 643495
> Fax: +44 (0)1273 643039
>
>
>> ----------
>> From: Le Boeuf
>> Reply To: A forum for the discussion of design historical issues,
>> and the exchange of
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 9, 2002 14:46 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: research program in the history of design
>>
>> Dear members of the Design History List,
>>
>> I have undertaken a project to create a CD with students as a
>> pedagogical tool for teachers and students in history of design.
>> I myself teach the history of design but my studies were in the history
>> of art.
>> When I began teaching the history of design, my first questions dealt
>> with the difficulty in defining this field of study.
>> We can find a lot of very interesting books on all sorts of subjects in
>> this field but very rarely books which offer any kind of methodology. I
>> found however an interesting book which indicates that we have a lot
>> of work to do in this area (John A Walker
>> Design history and th history of design , published by pluto Press 89)
>>
>> You will find below a short text which explains the foundation of my
>> query.
>>
>> I would be very interested in any thoughts anyone might have
>> concerning my research.
>>
>> Happy New Year
>>
>> [log in to unmask]
>> Director of Studies
>> L'École de design Nantes Atlantique - France
>> www.lecolededesign.com
>> To identify the characteristics of a research program in the history of
>> design
>>
>>
>>
>> The difficulty in defining a field of study in the history of design
>> points
>> to the various meanings of this word depending on denotative use or
>> the context in which it is used..
>>
>> There are however three main research areas. They lead us to the
>> historical issues concerning industrial artefacts, beginning and
>> development of a profession born out of Industrial Revolution, and
>> aesthetic and philosophical theories came with it
>>
>> For a long time, the development of Human sciences has focused on
>> the absence of a truth in history to the benefit of a multiplicity of
>> views
>> where we find objective facts, reassuring analytical structures like the
>> legitimate obsession with possessing reliable methodological tools,
>> as well as sujective approaches.
>>
>> The history of design has often been at the mercy of ideologies such
>> as Modernity followed by Post-Modernity , as has been the case with
>> the history of Arts and the history of architecture.
>>
>> The history of design has often been confused with strong ideological
>> and necessarily militant discourses, around the profession.
>> These discurses include theoretical positions about the place of the
>> creator in Society, esthetical credos, integration of the current
>> scientific
>> discourses.
>> To identify the characteristics of a research program in the history of
>> design would suppose precisely working to develop specific
>> methodological tools.
>> It is obvious that it would be useless to define an independent field, as
>> no discipine has this privilege.
>> But the relationships with other disciplines of knowledge would
>> obligatorily imply working towards the development of specific design
>> history questions whose implementation seems to be the first step in
>> defining this field of study .
>>
>>
>
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