Search results for ""Author Mareile Flitsch""

Our old shoes embark on a new life in Africa. While many people believe that their used clothes donations are distributed free of charge to the needy in the Third World, the trade in second-hand clothes is actually an international business. In addition to commercial clothes collectors, sorters, and interim dealers, thousands of street dealers in Africa live off the sale of second-hand clothes and shoes. They have to know which shoes are in fashion on the streets at the time, the various types of customers and the styles that are in demand, when and where these customers are most likely to be found, how to best approach them, and what they are willing to pay. This specialized expert knowledge is the basis of a successful livelihood.

Read more less

Ever since at least the ninth century, the Chinese province of Zhejiang has been known for its fine celadon porcelain with wonderful shimmering surfaces in qing, the magnificent shades of green. Chinese celadon enjoyed its golden age from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, a time when it found its way into the Imperial collections and was exported worldwide. A decline of craftsmanship followed, and by the end of the nineteenth century celadon had almost completely disappeared. It was not until the 1950s that this style of pottery was successfully brought back to life. In the 1990s changes to the market economy forced porcelain artisans to reorient; to this day they have been able to successfully align themselves, similar to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage system, as 'Living State Treasures' with their unparalleled celadon glazes. Seladon im Augenmerk offers an exciting social anthropological insight into the cultural history, technology and sociality of celadon production in the porcelain metropolis of Longquan, PR, China, up to the present day. Text in German.

Read more less