Design, national imaginaries, and the home furnishings commodity chain
Reimer, Suzanne and Leslie, Deborah (2008) Design, national imaginaries, and the home furnishings commodity chain. Growth and Change, 39, (1), 144-171. (doi:10.1111/j.1468-2257.2007.00409.x).
Download
Full text not available from this repository.
Description/Abstract
This paper introduces the concept of national imaginaries as a means of foregrounding the continuing influence of ideas about the nation on understandings of commodity production and circulation. National imaginaries are of crucial importance to the home furnishings commodity network, flowing across sites of consumption, retailing, design, and production. Drawing upon the findings of a larger cross-national research project, the paper discusses three cases in which the characterisation of distinctive national design identities was particularly prominent. These include the representation of designers in the UK and Canada as "national heroes," and the tendency to measure British and Canadian design against a third national imaginary: that of Italy. A final case considers discursive constructions of national economic trajectories—of "success" or "failure"—within accounts of the British and Canadian furniture industries. It is argued that future work on the differentiating advantages, which may accrue to creative or cultural industries in particular localities, also should be attentive to the ways in which the place of the nation is used to construct imaginative geographies.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| ISSNs: | 0017-4815 (print) 1468-2257 (electronic) |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HF Commerce G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General) |
| Divisions: | University Structure - Pre August 2011 > School of Geography > Economy, Culture, Space |
| Item ID: | 56917 |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Aug 2008 |
| Last Modified: | 13 May 2013 13:04 |
| Contributors: | Reimer, Suzanne (Author) Leslie, Deborah (Author) |
| Date: | March 2008 |
| Status: | Published |
| Contact Email Address: | S.Reimer@soton.ac.uk |
| URI: | http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/56917 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
