Current Research Interests

Networks of technical collaboration, innovation and cultural recognition processes

My research activities in this area focus on case studies of trans-disciplinary collaboration devoted to various forms of innovation. One case study examines the development and appropriation of new recording technologies by musicians and audio technicians working outside the traditional music industry framework and new forms of artistic entrepreneurship. Another examines community-based African Canadian cultural heritage associations and their involvement in diverse networks of historians, politicians, archaeologists and scientists. A third case study focuses on collaboration between cultural heritage professionals, artists, scientists and other forms of experts in the creation and preservation of new forms of material culture.

[KEY WORDS: trans-disciplinary communication, inter-cultural communication, technological change, interdisciplinary applied scientific research teams, innovation, culture, visual and performing arts, community-based business and cultural initiatives, work and occupations,organizational studies]

Sustainability, creative industries, community well-being and culture-led regeneration strategies

When developers set their sights on newly fashionable real estate, occupants - particularly low-income residents, small business entrepreneurs, and not-for-profit organizations - face the threat of displacement. The recent round of redevelopment in post-industrial cities premised on innovative creative industries and cultural initiatives often features increasingly upscale housing and workplaces. Although 20th-century urban renewal projects have been widely criticized for their destructive impacts on previously existing communities, new regeneration strategies may exert an even more powerful dislocative force than the earlier experiences, with dire consequences for marginal communities. Paradoxically, the elimination of marginal sub-cultures and communities may have unintended negative impacts on the sustainability of entrepreneurs in the very socio-economic networks that gave rise to new regeneration possibilities in the first place. My central research question in this area is "How can successful urban regeneration strategies be developed that do not lead to gentrification and to the subsequent dislocation or marginalization of existing occupants?" One case study concerns planning processes in the greater Vancouver area.

[KEY WORDS: urban and regional planning, creative industries, work in the culture sector, poverty, neoinstitutionalism, conflict, sustainability, community well-being]

Collective memory, public discourse and the arts

Contemporary trans-national movements characterized by hybrid cultural practices have given rise to social networks with diverse aesthetic and ideological commitments that are re-configuring global communications. Proponents of science in the early 20th century expressed faith in the potential of technology to promote prosperity. A century later the prevalence of terrorism, the persistence of genocide and the seemingly inexorable accumulation of evidence of dramatic environmental change spurred skepticism about the power of a de-contextualized notion of science and inspired the so-called "cultural turn" in studies of society. The new appreciation of culture is not grounded in a romantic notion of a symbolic escape from the strains of the material world. Politicians, economists and social analysts increasingly recognize the contributions of cultural innovation for practical strategies. Scholars have begun to rethink the position of arts and aesthetic practices in new conceptions of how societies work. Art worlds are not necessarily delimited by the borders of the Nation-State, region or place-based communities. This research examines the place of the arts in global public discourse and practices, on how the arts shape and reshape public memories, reconfigure spaces within civil society, redefine individual and collective identities, engage with displaced communities, and invent traditions that transcend boundaries, creating new alliances.

[KEY WORDS: cultural sociology, collective memory, public discourse,controversy, visual and performing arts]

Cultural heritage preservation strategies and new media

This research concerns challenges presented by today's rapidly changing technologies for the preservation of scientific and artistic work as cultural heritage. Recent and contemporary creative practices in both the arts and the sciences such as those using digital technologies involve unstable media and hardware. What new approaches are being developed to document and preserve records of new techno-cultural practices and the works created with them for future generations? The main goals of the research program are to: 1) identify challenges, debates and innovative strategies for the preservation of new forms of creative work in international networks; and 2) seek insights for the development of guidelines and policy relevant for the preservation of new forms of cultural heritage in cultural heritage institutions.

[KEY WORDS: variable media, time-based media, cultural heritage, science, technology, visual and performing arts]