Skill: From Flintknapping to the Maker Movement

Brown University AMST0150E

Fall 2018

Steven Lubar, Professor, American Studies lubar@brown.edu cell 401-297-6445

Class time and location: Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30-noon, Brown Design Workshop,
Prince Engineering Building 222

Office Hours (Nightingale-Brown House, 357 Benefit Street, 3rd floor): Thursday 2:00-
3:30 (by appointment, click here) or other times by appointment.

Course Description
What does it mean to be skilled? How does a combination of mechanical and material
knowledge, expertise in the use of tools, and physical ability allow someone to make and
repair things? How can we describe the intellectual and embodied knowledge of skills in
words, images, and artifacts? How do personal skills fit into social and cultural settings?
How are skills learned?

In this course, we will learn new skills, like sewing, welding, and lock-picking, and write
about them; observe skilled practitioners in a variety of areas, and try to understand their
expertise; and read the writings of historians, psychologists, skilled craftspeople, and
cultural critics to discover the ways that ideas about the nature of skill has changed
through history.

Course Goals
1. Understand the history, politics, and cultural discourse of skill, and the physical,
social, and cultural nature of skill
2. Develop the ability to analyze work to determine the skills involved
3. Develop the ability to describe skill and reflect on your learning process by
analyzing your own activities and that of others.
4. Develop the ability to write about your work in a way that helps you analyze it
and that makes it interesting to others

Assessment
Writing assignments: 60 percent
Class participation: 30 percent
Skills journal: 10 percent

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Books available at bookstore (and on reserve at library)
Nina MacLaughlin, Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter
Mike Rose, The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker
David Esterly, The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making
David Pye, Nature and Art of Workmanship

Course Schedule
We’ll meet twice a week. In general, the first meeting of the week will be a discussion of
the readings, the second session a visit or a workshop.
Over the first few weeks of the semester, show up for the training sessions that will allow
you to use the tools in the Brown Design Workshop. Complete the wood training session
by 10/2 and the metal training session by 10/9.

Course Outline
1. Introduction: Thinking about skills

Thursday 9/6
Introductions. About the course. Overview of class. Introduction to the Brown Design
Workshop (Chris Bull). Introduction to writing about skill. About your skills journal.

In Class
Lock-picking. We’ll read and view descriptions of this work, and analyze the knowledge
about mechanics, materials, physical abilities, and understanding of tools and materials
required.

Assignment
Writing: Continue to practice lock-picking Describe it - what's hard, what's easy, how
you've learned - in a short essay, 200-300 words. Due 9/12 (submit via Canvas, and bring
a copy to class on Thursday). See Advice on Writing about Skills document.

2. Thinking about skills, 2

Tuesday 9/11

Thinking about skill. We’ll read parts of two classic books about the nature of
workmanship, and one overview, and discuss and compare them in class.

Reading
David Pye, The Nature and Art of Workmanship, chapters 1-4
Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy (1962; repr.,
London: Routledge, 1998), pp. 49-65.

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Timothy Ingold, “Beyond Art and Technology: The Anthropology of Skill. In,” in
Anthropological Perspectives on Technology, by M B. Schiffer (Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, 2001), 17-31.

In Class
We’ll discuss Pye and Polyanyi in some depth, using Ingold to provide context.

Assignment
Writing: Short summary of either Pye or Polanyi, or contrast them (300-600 words).
Describe their basic ideas, and then consider topics like these: what kinds of skill are the
interested in? How do they think about the relationship of the physical and mental parts
of skills? How practical are their ideas about skills for someone trying to learn a skill?
How will they help you in learning and thinking about tools? Due 9/18.

Thursday 9/13
Reading
Ted the Tool, The MIT Guide to Lockpicking (pp. 1-22, 48, and whatever else looks
interesting.)

In Class
Lock-picking and sewing. Come prepared to talk about what you've learned about lock-
picking (and bring a copy of your writing).

Visit from Kenna Libes, public humanities graduate student: Sewing

3. Writing about skill

Tuesday 9/18
Reading
David Esterly, The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making, Prologue and
chapters 1-3 (focus on what he says about carving)
Skim a book of fiction or autobiography that includes descriptions of technological skill.
Some examples you might choose:
Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (on the skills of riverboat pilots)
John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath (automobile repair)
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (just about anything!)
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods or Farmer Boy (pioneer
skills)
Andy Weir, The Martian (farming?)
Herman Melville, Moby Dick (whaling)

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In Class
We’ll focus on writing. Come to class prepared to talk about the way that Esterly and
MacLaughlin and the third author you read describes skill. Marks some good examples
and be prepared to talk about what makes them good.

VISIT from Karen Bouchard, Brown Libraries. 11:30.

Assignment
Write about the book you skimmed. What skills does the author talk about? How does he
or she describe them? How do the characters in the book learn them? How are skills part
of character development? How are skills part of plot development? Give examples of
writing that works and writing that doesn’t, and explain why. Due 9/25

Journal writing: Begin a skills journal. Choose a new skill that you’ll continue to practice
for a few hours a week over the course of the semester, and write about it at least once a
week. The skill should be a hands-on skill that produces a tangible product Do this as a
shared Google doc, and share it with me. Here’s some advice, and here’s an
example from a related field that’s worth a look.

Thursday, 9/20

Reading
Nina MacLaughlin, Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter

In Class
Visit from Nina MacLaughlin. We’ll discuss her book, and talk about writing.

4. Knowing Materials: Stone

Tuesday 9/25
NOTE We will meet at the Nightingale Brown House, 357 Benefit Street, behind the
house.

Reading
John Whittaker, Flintknapping: Making and understanding stone tools. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1994. pp. 1–21
Don E. Crabtree and Richard A. Gould, “Man’s Oldest Craft Re-Created,” Curator: The
Museum Journal 13, no. 3 (n.d.): 179–98

Watch:
Making an Acheulean handaxe

In Class
We meet at the Nightingale-Brown House, 357 Benefit Street. Barry Keegan a flint-
knapper, will teach us how to make stone tools. NOTE: Wear long pants, long sleeves,
and closed-toe shoes.

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Assignment
Writing: Describe your experience learning to flint-knap: what was difficult, what was
easy? Some things you might address: Think about the sensory part of the work: sight,
smell, touch. Did the work tire you out? Be precise about the muscles that this work
called on. Consider the material you used: what surprised you it? (300-600 words) Due
10/2.

Thursday 9/27
NOTE: Class will meet at the CultureLab at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology,
in Manning Hall. Guest lecturer: Annalisa Heppner, Haffenreffer Museum

Reading
Jan Apel, “Knowledge, know-how and raw material: The production of Late Neolithic
flint daggers in Scandinavia,” Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 15 (2008):
91–111.
William Henry Holmes, “Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities. Part I.
Introductory: The Lithic Industries,” 1919, http://repository.si.edu//handle/10088/15527,
pp. 278-329

In Class
We meet will meet at the CultureLab at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, in
Manning Hall, on the main green. Guest lecturer: Annalisa Heppner, Haffenreffer
Museum, who will show us examples of early stone tools. Be prepared to analyze them
based on your experience flintknapping.

5. Knowing Materials: Wood

Tuesday 10/2
We’ll read woodworker’s descriptions of their work to see how they understand, and
think about wood, and compare them.

Reading
George Sturt, The Wheelwright’s Shop, pp. 1-23 and 83-107
David Esterly, The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making, chaps. 2 and 4-6

Choose one of these

Walter Rose, The Village Carpenter, chapters 3 and 4
Robert Tarule, The Artisan of Ipswich, chapter 5
Timothy Lewontin, Parson’s Mill, chapters 18 and 19

Watching:
Mastercrafts: Green Woodcraft

In Class
We’ll compare the knowledge and skills of the woodworkers we read and watched, and
spend some time in the shop working with wood and trying to describe our work.

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Thursday 10/4

NOTE: We will meet at the shop of Shep Shapiro, boatbuilder, Address: 235 4th
Street, Providence. To get there, take the #1 bus from the Thayer St. bus tunnel to
the stop after Lauriston, and walk ahead, then right on 4th St. Schedule here. About
a 30-minute walk.

Reading
Frank Wilson, The Hand: How its use shapes the brain, language, and human culture,
chapter 6

In Class
NOTE: We will visit Shep Shapiro, boatbuilder, at his shop in Providence. Address: 235
4th Street, Providence. Be prepared with comparisons from the woodworkers we’ve read,
and to ask questions about his work. What does he know? How did he learn it? What is
easy for him, what difficult?

Assignment
Your choice: either compare the readings on knowing wood, or write about what you
learned about wood in your work in the shop. (300-600 words) Due 10/11.

6. Knowing Materials: Metal

Tuesday 10/9
Reading
Douglas Harper, Working Knowledge, pp. 24-40.
The National Institute for Metalworking Skills, Inc., “Duties and Standards For
Machining Skills-Level I”

Watching:
How to Use Tools: "Fundamentals Of Filing" 1942 US Office of Education
8 Old School Tips For Better Hand Filing
Mastercrafts show on Blacksmithing

In Class
We’ll spend some time in the show working with metal, and discuss the readings to get a
sense of the different ways that they discuss skill.

Thursday, 10/11
NOTE: We will meet at Faunce Arch to take a bus to the Steelyard, 27 Sims Ave,
Providence for a hands-on introduction to welding. Wear long pants, long sleeves,
closed shoes, no synthetics. Longer class session. Details to be determined

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Reading
Bernard Mergen, “Blacksmiths and Welders,” ILR Review, April 1, 1972, pp. 354-362.
Alistair Mutch, “The construction of a 'traditional' occupation: welding, 1900-1960,”
Labour History Spring2001, Vol. 66 Issue 1, p41-60.

Watching:
“The Welding Operator,” (Vocational Guidance Films, 1942)
“Master Hands,” (Jam Handy, 1936) – watch all 4 parts

Visit:
9-12 Welding lessons. Class at the Steelyard, 27 Sims Ave, Providence. A hands-on
introduction to welding. Meet at Faunce Arch – time and details to be determined

Assignment
Writing: Describe your experience learning to weld: what was difficult, what was easy?
Some things you might address: Think about the sensory part of the work: sight, smell,
touch. Did the work tire you out? Be precise about the muscles that this work called on.
Consider the material you used: what surprised you about the way it changed as it heated
and cooled? Did trying welding help you to understand the historical articles on welding?
(300-600 words) Due 10/18.

7. Knowing Materials: Paper

Tuesday, 10/16
NOTE: We will meet at the Brown University Book Arts Studio, in the basement of the
John Hay Library.

In Class
We will meet at the Brown University Book Arts Studio, in the basement of the John Hay
Library. Erica Mena-Landry will teach us papermaking

Thursday, 10/18
Reading
Herman Melville, “The Tartarus of Maids”
Joseph Needham, “Papermaking,” in Science and Civilization in China, pp. 68-72
Judith A. McGaw, Most wonderful machine mechanization and social change in
Berkshire paper making, 1801-1885, pp. 35-49 and 296-355

Watching
Traditional Paper Making Process
Fourdrinier paper-making machine

In class
We’ll discuss our welding class, and then move on to talking about paper, and compare
the two, and also our other explorations of material knowledge and skill. I’ll provide
some historical background on the industrial revolution, and we’ll also discuss the skills

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in different kinds of papermaking – craft, pre-industrial, Industrial Revolution-era, and
contemporary, and consider the changing skills.

Assignment
Writing: Describe your experience learning to make paper: what was difficult, what was
easy? What surprised you about the materiality? How does what you learned help you
understand the historical changes McGaw outlines? Due 10/25

8. Skills in the Workplace - 1

Tuesday 10/23
Reading
Mike Rose, The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker.

In Class
We’ll discuss The Mind at Work; be prepared to present in class on one chapter.

Thursday, 10/25
In class
Visit to Brown cafeteria kitchen. Details to be determined.

Assignment
Writing: Describe the visit to the cafeteria kitchen. Make comparisons to the workplaces
in The Mind at Work. What workplaces are the Brown cafeterias similar to? How so?
How different? What skills did the workers you met have? How did they learn them?
How did they use them? What could you learn about individual and team skills, and how
managerial structure shaped the workplace and the use of skills? (300-600 words) Due
10/25

9. Skills in the Workplace - 2

Tuesday, 10/30
Reading
David Sutton, “The Mindful Kitchen, The Embodied Cook: Tools, Technology and
Knowledge Transmission on a Greek Island” Material Culture Review 70 (Fall
2009)
James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human
Condition Have Failed, 309-333


In class
We’ll discuss our visit to the cafeteria, work you’ve done, and the ways that Sutton and
Scott talk about personal, social and institutional knowledge.

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Thursday, 11/1
NOTE: Visit to New Harvest Coffee Training Center, 999 Main Street #108 Pawtucket,
RI. Meet at Faunch Arch for the van.

Reading
Eric Laurier, “Becoming a Barista,” in Aksel Tjora and Graham Scrambler, eds., Café
Society
http://www.scanews.coffee/2017/03/17/specialty-coffee-retail-standards/
https://baristahustle.com/blogs/barista-hustle/interview-hidenori-izaki-on-service
https://baristahustle.com/blogs/barista-hustle/the-importance-of-heads-up-coffee-service

Visit
Visit to New Harvest Coffee Training Center, 999 Main Street #108 Pawtucket, RI

Assignment
Writing: 300-600 words. Visit a coffee shop and talk with the barista about his or her
work. Some questions to consider: How did he or she learn to do the work? How long did
it take? What’s easy, what’s hard? How much is technical, how much social? Is there a
way of expressing creativity in the work? Due 9/27 (For help in this kind of writing, see
Putting Ethnographic Writing in Context.

10. Repair

Tuesday 11/6
Reading
Matthew Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft, Chapter 7
John Muir, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive (pick any chapter)
Elizabeth Spelman, Repair: The Impulse to Restore in a Fragile World, pp. 1-25
Browse Preventive Maintenance Monthly, either online or at the Ann S.K. Brown
Collection at the John Hay library.

Thursday 11/8
NOTE: We meet at Legend Bicycle, 181 Brook Street, Providence

Reading
Julian E. Orr, Talking about machines: An ethnography of a modern job, chapter 7
Tim Dant, “The Work of Repair: Gesture, Emotion and Sensual Knowledge,”
Sociological Research Online, 15 (3) 7

In class
Visit to Legend Bicycle, 181 Brook St, Providence

Assignment
Write about our visit to Legend Bicycle. How did the mechanic diagnose the problem
with the bicycle. What knowledge did he bring to the problem? How did the

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understandings of mechanism, material, and hands-on feel shape the solution? Refer to
one or more of the readings to help make sense of this.

11. The Social Life of Skills

Tuesday 11/13
Reading
Richard Sennett, The Craftsman, Chapter 2
Douglas Harper, Working Knowledge: Skill and Community in a Small Shop, 74-91
Julian E. Orr, Talking about machines: An ethnography of a modern job, chapter 4
Watch The Quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend (2005) [Click on the Media Library button in the
left navigation]
Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Directed by David Gelb. Color, 81 min. 2011.

In Class
We’ll discuss the readings, trying to sum up the last few weeks of readings about the
intersections of skill and work. Review the readings since 10/23.

Assignment
Writing: Describe the social nature of skills as presented in one of the readings and the
film, or compare them. How much of technical skill is really social? How important is
talking about what you do, either to other workers or to customers? (300-600 words) Due
11/15

Thursday 11/15
In class
In teams, analyze the Brown Design Workshop as a place where skills have a social life.
How do social skills shape technical skills, and how do technical skills shape social
skills?

12. Skills and Creativity

Tuesday 11/20
NOTE: Meet at the RISD Museum, 224 Benefit Street.

Reading
Peter Dormer, The Art of the Maker: Skill and its Meaning in Art, Craft and Design
(London: Thames and Hudson, 1994), chapter 1
Leslie Hirst, “Groundwork,” in The Art of Critical Making,” pp. 32-51.

In class
Visit to the RISD Museum. We’ll tour costume and textile collections looking for the
balance of skill and creativity. Meet at the RISD Museum, 224 Benefit Street.

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Assignment
Describe one object from the RISD Museum, writing about the skills of its maker or
makers. How was it made? What skills did its makers have? 300-600 words. Due 11/27

NO CLASS Thursday 11/22 – THANKSGIVING BREAK

13. The Politics and Poetics of Skill (19th century)

Tuesday 11/27
Reading
Nina E. Lerman, “’Preparing for the Duties and Practical Business of Life’:
Technological Knowledge and Social Structure in Mid-19th-Century
Philadelphia,” Technology and Culture 38(1) 1997.
Robert Gordon, “Who Turned the Mechanical Ideal into Mechanical Reality?,”
Technology and Culture 29(4) 1988
Anthony F.C. Wallace, Rockdale, chapter 4
William Morris, “The Lesser Arts”

In class
Some historical background on the Industrial Revolution and some responses to it.

Thursday 11/29
NOTE: Meet at the John Hay Library

Visit
Visit to the John Hay Library to look at technical manuscripts and books, drawings and
designs, and Arts and Crafts movement books. Meet in the Lownes Room, second
floor of the John Hay Library.

14. The Politics and Poetics of Skill (20th and 21st Century)

Tuesday 12/4
Reading
Frederick Taylor, Principles of Scientific Management, Introduction and chapter 2
Henry Ford, “Mass Production,” In Encyclopedia Britannica, 1926
Harry Braverman, (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital, chapter 20
Amy Bix, “Creating ‘Chicks Who Fix’: Women, Tool Knowledge, and Home Repair,
1920–2007,” WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, Volume 37, Numbers 1 & 2,
Spring/Summer 2009, pp. 38-60

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Thursday 12/6
The Maker’s Bill of Rights
Kimberly M. Sheridan, et al., “Learning in the making: A comparative case study of three
makerspaces,” Harvard Educational Review, 84(4), 505-531.
Evgeny Morozov, “Making It,” The New Yorker, January 13, 2014
Michele Krugh, “Joy in Labour: The Politicization of Craft from the Arts and Crafts
Movement to Etsy,” Canadian Review of American Studies, vol. 44 no. 2, 2014,
pp. 281-301
Search the New York Times or other newspapers and journals for recent articles on the
ongoing debate on the proper training for manufacturing skills

15. Final class

Tuesday 12/11
Reviewing the semester

Assignment
Read through your journal entries. Think about the progress you’ve made in your new
skill, and write about it. Some things to consider include: what can you do know that you
couldn’t when you started? What do you know now, about materials and tools, that you
didn’t? How has your ability to describe your skill changed? (3 pp.) Due 12/18

Workload

Activity Duration Frequency Total

Class time 1.33 28 37.25

Reading 7 13 91
Weekly writing 3 10 30
Skills work in BDW 3 2 6
Skills work, journal writing 25 throughout 25
TOTAL 183.25

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Course policies

Required and Optional Texts and Materials

All of the readings for the course are available either online through Canvas, on reserve at
the Brown University Library, or for purchase at the bookstore. Canvas includes a range
of supplemental readings. Additional readings (including books and articles considered
for the class but not in the syllabus) are available at my Zotero page.
The following books are available at the bookstore:

Book prices

Student responsibilities
Attendance: Please try to attend every class. Please let me know if you’re not able to
make the class. There will be several out-of-class time workshops, and you should plan to
attend these.

Participation: The class only works if you participate. Please read the readings, read
further in areas of interest, and come to class prepared to discuss what you’ve read and
thought about, and to participate in discussion and undertake the in-class projects with
good will.

Late work and make up: Let me know if you need more time to turn in a paper. I’m
happy to read preliminary drafts of any assignment, or a second, improved, version.
Email or come talk to me if you’d like to discuss your assignments as you’re working on
them, or after you’ve turned them in.

Assessments
10 short writing assignments, 5 percent of grade each
Choose ten of the assignments listed here. These short writing assignments should reflect
your personal experience. Write them in the first person (“I think….”) Express opinions.
Say what you know, what you don’t, and why. Feel free to use pictures and illustrations.

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After you finish, rewrite at least once, making sure that your introduction and conclusion
connect well. Submit your work via Canvas.

Skills journal 20 percent of grade.

Over the course of the semester you’ll work on one skill, and keep a journal describing
your progress. What are you learning? Write in it several times a week. You don’t need to
turn this in, but you will use it in some of the short writing assignments, and we’ll discuss
it in class.

Class participation, 30 percent of grade

Class discussion is evaluated by the thoughtfulness of your comments. Be constructive:
refer to the readings, present new information from your experience and from outside
readings, and suggest new ideas. Participation should be a dialog, building on my
remarks, and other students’ contributions, as part of a conversation. You should speak
up when you have something to say; in general, that should be more than once in each
class.

Participation in class projects is evaluated not by the quality of your work, but by the
quality of your learning experience. You’re not trying to be the best welder, or lock
picker; you’re thinking about what you’re doing—what’s easy, what’s difficult, and why;
what you’re learning, what you need to know; where you’re learning (what’s physical,
what’s mental, what’s social). All of this will be necessary for writing about your
experience.

Other
Lab safety/health
We will be working in the Brown Design Lab and other workshops that can be
dangerous. You are required to meet BDL requirements for use of its space and tools.
Safety first!

Academic honesty
Brown's academic codes can be found here.

WRIT-designated course
This is a WRIT-designated course, which means that you will receive substantive
feedback on your writing. Use this feedback to revise your work or to complete
subsequent writing assignments. Take advantage of the Writing Center for additional
support for writing.

Full inclusion
Brown University is committed to full inclusion of all students. Please inform me early in
the term if you have a disability or other conditions that might require accommodations
or modification of any of these course procedures. You may speak with me after class or
during office hours. For more information, please contact Student and Employee

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Accessibility Services at 401-863-9588 or SEAS@brown.edu. Students in need of short-
term academic advice or support can contact one of the deans in the Dean of the College
office.

Expenses and Financial Concerns.

Undergraduates with concerns about the non-tuition cost(s) of a course at Brown may
apply to the Dean of the College’s Academic Emergency Fund to determine options for
financing these costs, while ensuring their privacy. The Fund can be found in the
Emergency, Curricular & Co-curricular Gap (E-Gap) Funds in UFunds. More
information is available at: http://brown.edu/go/egap. Students may also submit inquiries
to egap-funds@brown.edu.

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