Bricolage

From Geography

Bricolage is French word that literally means ´fiddling´, ´tinkering´, or ´do it yourself work´ by extension (Interglot, 2011). It became a scientific concept in 1962 when French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss redefined the term. He used it as a cultural concept, that is the selecting of elements in cultural construction. An example are youth cultures; young people compose a new discourse by choosing certain elements from an existing range of style elements (van der Brande, 2002, p. 20).

In 1984, Michel de Certeau published his book The practice of everyday life, in which he transformed the bricolage concept (Art Journal, 2008, p. 2). He used bricolage to describe the ways in which we practice common activities, like talking, reading and cooking. According to de Certeau, bricolent refers to ´...users (that) make innumerable and infinitesimal transformations of and within the dominant cultural economy in order to adapt it to their own interests and their own rules.´ To put it in another way, bricolage is a inventive tactic performed in order to ´make do´ (de Certeau, 1984, p. xviii).

An example of bricolage is the ruses and tricks that homeless city inhabitants use to stay alive. They have their own ways of re-using market structures in order to meet their basic needs, like food and shelter.

De Certeau thought everyday practices are complex phenomenons that need proper study. For this, new research methologies are required. A parallel can be drawn with Lévi-Strauss, who contested the distinction between bricolage and scientific thought (Art Journal, 2008, p. 2).

References

Art Journal (22 March 2008). Assemblage, bricolage, and the practice of everyday life. College Art Association: [1]

de Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley: University of California.

Interglot (2011). French to English: bricolage. Retrevied on 27th September 2011, on [2]

Van den Brande, A. (2002). Identiteiten. Functies en dysfuncties. Gent: Academia Press.

Page created by BoudewijnIdema---- 27 September 2011, 17:46 (UTC)