Speaker: Prof Tina Dacin, Smith School of Business, Queen's University
Title: Maintaining craft: Memory work and collective custodianship
Date: Thu, 26th Oct 2023
Time: 12pm – 2pm
Venue: Building 24, Copland, Seminar Room 1106
Dr EY Song and Dr Anna Hartman are the hosts of this visit.
ABSTRACT
The innovations and technological advancements of many industries within today’s craft revival as well as recent theoretical advances suggest that craft persistence may increasingly require custodial work involving intentional, proactive, and interpretive efforts aimed at maintaining and enhancing craft practices. We examine the notion of custodianship and highlight its importance in the context of community entrepreneurship. Based on interviews with over 40 craft maple syrup producers, participant observation, and archival research, our qualitative study uncovers a collective process of custodial work whereby the craft is maintained, community is built and memory is upheld. This process centers around the sharing of traditional/technical and embodied/abstract craft knowledge through memory work practices such as demonstrating, teaching, ritual performance and display, and storytelling. Our findings additionally suggest four foundations that undergird collective custodial work and community entrepreneurship: passion, a sense of responsibility to protect tradition, a desire to protect craft integrity, and feelings of reciprocity to other craftspeople. These findings extend the broader literature on custodianship by contributing to a more complete understanding of the collective efforts of craft custodians and the nature of memory work underlying craft maintenance.
BIO
Tina Dacin is the Stephen J.R. Smith Chair of Strategy and Organizational Behavior at Smith School of Business, Queen's University, Canada and also the Principal Investigator of the Community Revitalization Research Program. She is the former Director of the Smith School of Business Centre for Social Impact as well as a former member of the University Senate at Queen's University and Former Chair of the Principal's Innovation Fund Committee.
Professor Dacin's research interests include cultural heritage and traditions, social innovation/entrepreneurship, and strategic alliances. Her work has been published in leading management journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Accounting, Organizations, and Society, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management, Journal of World Business, Organization Science, and the Strategic Management Journal. She has also served as Senior/Consulting Editor for Organization Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management Inquiry. She has previously served for multiple terms on the Editorial Review Boards of the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, the Journal of International Business Studies, Strategic Organization and Strategic Management Journal.
Professor Dacin teaches courses in leadership, change, and strategy. Professor Dacin advises and speaks to major corporations in the airline, biotechnology, defense, energy, financial services, healthcare, and telecommunications sectors as well as a number of public sector and non-profit organizations. She currently sits on the boards of the Kingston Community Foundation and GRLI, a global advocacy organization for promoting responsible leadership in business schools and organizations. Professor Dacin has received several awards and recognition for research and teaching. Most recently, she was inducted as a Visiting Fellow into Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge, UK and is a Visiting Fellow of the Judge Business School. She has also been a Visiting Professor for several years at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India.