Working Knowledge: Skill and Community in a Small Shop - Hardcover

Harper

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226316882 ISBN 13: 9780226316888

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1987

Synopsis

<div>A number of years ago, Douglas Harper moved to northern New York to teach in a small college. Upon his arrival there his department chairman noted his eight-year-old Saab and said, "You'll be meeting Willie." Haper spent the next years establishing not only a working relationship but a friendship with Willie. In <i>Working Knowledge</i>, he introduces us to Willie, a mechanic and jack-of-all-trades. With this engaging and insightful profile&#8212;part biography, part ethnography, and part photo essay&#8212;Harper documents what Willie does and how he does it. Harper's dignified portrait captures a disappearing feature of modern life&#8212;the essential human factor in the world of work. <br></div>

About this title

About the Author

<div><div><p><b>Douglas Harper</b> is professor of sociology at Duquesne University. He is the author of a number of works of visual ethnography and visual sociology&#8212;works that use photography as an innovative adjunct to ethnographic description. His books include <i>Good Company</i>, a much-acclaimed photographic portrait and narrative about tramps on the rails;<i> Working Knowledge: Skill and Community in a Small Shop</i>, a portrait of a mechanic and jack-of-all-trades; <i>Changing Works: </i><i>Visions of a Lost Agriculture</i>, which explores the social world of dairy farmers in upstate New York; <i>Hong Kong: Migrant Lives, Landscapes, and Journeys</i>, a tour of the city&#8217;s postcolonial urban landscape; and <i>The Italian Way: Food and Social Life</i>, on the role that food plays in the daily activities of Italians from all walks of life. All five of these books were published by the University of Chicago Press.</p></div><br></div>

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226316882
• ISBN 13: 9780226316888
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 244