Community of Practice and Traditional Art & Crafts

The late 1970’s to the end of ‘80’s are the years when Japan had significant economic development.  My son borrowed a book called  “The Dawn of Tradition” (Nissan motor, 1980) HERE from his school library.  This book is very advanced for a 7 year old child, but I was happy to see his interest in Japanese culture, which he owns half in himself.  This book was published in the heated years when Japan’s economic development was taking place. But this is not a book about money; it is actually a book about Japanese spirit and art.  This book looked at characteristic aspects of Japan and its’ culture to reveal how tradition and high tech culture coexist there, plus how their long history of art and crafts are influencing the way Japanese re-built their identity in the world back in 1970s-‘80s.  Why did we produce products in the way many parts of world would recognize and admire? In the answer to this question, you will find out how Japanese live, cooperate each other, and what aspect of society they emphasized in daily production or mastering crafts. 

The book starts with Japan’s natural environment, there are four distinguished seasons in Japan, which led people to create their own thinking about beauty and crafts, and then in second chapter, they bring us to traditional art and crafts in details to explore the connection to their innovative modern technology through their dedication to perfection and quality of work.  After exploring traditional art and spirits in crafts, in the 3^rd chapter, they open a door of “inner aspects of Japanese creativity, which, over centuries has accomplished so much with so little.” (Nissan Motor, Page 81)  Finally, in the last chapter, they compare and state that the sprit of Japanese traditional art and crafts are deeply influenced in modern production, which was happening at that time in Japan.  They used Automobile manufacturing as an example to show this connection. 

 

I am writing about this book because I feel that there are many essences of community of practices that we have been studying, and I do feel very strongly that when centripetal movement of community of practice is moving smoothly with less disconnection and obstacles, high productivity will arise and people establish identity.  People seemed content not only because they are making good living but also their identities are well situated and recognized whether you are a manager or a worker.  There are no extreme rich nor desperately poor at that time of Japan. I see tremendous amount of learning were taking place not only in school setting, but also in community practices. 

I am trying to put all the aspects of learning and community of practices we have learned in our class with connection to this book.  I experienced having hard time finding the right connection among them to show what it exactly is that I read in this book about community of practices.  I decided to put my points, which I found are important to me, instead of trying to connect between this book and community of practice through the way Wenger or Lave disassembled, because I realized that difficulty I am facing might be this complex world, which we are living in.  It is deeply interconnected or interact each community of practice in this world, for me, it is still very difficult to explain using Wenger’s theory what I see in Japanese society at that time.  However, I have two points I like to make here in my blog: one is that in the height of Japanese economy, what they put most importance on in each community of practice was “attitude / etiquette”; second point is that if there are incentives in community of practice, greater learning would occur to reach the goal. 

Whether you are a car designer or a worker to build a car, in order to achieve shared goal, they have to have dignity toward their practices.  There has to be an attitude to create a good end product. To be able to work as a member of a team is the most important aspects in Japanese culture; from your birth, they input this discipline into your body.  If you were not able to work as a team worker, I believe, they would see it as dysfunctional in their community.  This is true not only in manufacture but also in any community of practices in Japanese society.  It was probably too extreme to maintain individuality at some time. Gregory Clark, who is Editorial Co-Supervisor of this book, SEE HERE, ALSO HERE, said in Editorial in this book, “In Particular, when it comes to getting people working and making things, the Japanese ‘talent’ has very real advantages. There is the natural emphasis on group cooperation; you do not work simply to better your own position and prospects. There is a ‘simple’ pleasure in creating good products…there is a the concept of the work unit as ……community with a shared destiny.”  (Page 5)

I look back the time when I was working in Japan many years ago, I realized I have seen a well organized community of practice with my own eyes, so now, after reading this book about Japan, I started thinking that there was a great reward and hope in Japan in ‘80s, we all had incentive, and we all participated and be a part of learning in each community, everyone was excited about what they are going after.  I like to give a same hope and reward to young people who are heading out to the world first time, but sometime I just don’t know what is waiting for them after mastering their practice.  There are few manufactures left in North America, and this corporate global economy was sold to be good for everyone but it seems working only for those certain people.  So what is our shared goal?  We thought building market is the only manufacture that left in this continent, but even in that field, sheet rock coming from China, pre-made flooring, cabinets and doors from China are occupying here already.  

There was a belief before: if you build high quality products, you were in good position in a market and there were demands for the high quality, but this is not true anymore.  Even scarifying quality of products, people are going after for cheaper goods.  The “simple pleasure in creating good products” (Clark, 1983) is not accepted in the market anymore, so how do we do this centripetal movement of community of practice?  How do we develop our identity?  If there is no meaning in our practice, what kind of joy are we feeling in our life?  I felt that these very fundamental essences of our community of practice are in danger in our current life, and if so, how our education system could sustain, there is no way it does because “the place of knowledge is within the developmental cycles of that community”(Lave and Wenger, 1999, Page 100)

I feel like I have butchered this blog out, but I hope people understand what I would like to say in this blog.  To me, it is still very technical to look at this subject from theoretical way.  My husband said, “ it is like ‘looking at a forest or trees,’ do you look at trees as a forest or look at each tree through branches and leaves, can you understand each components’ biological characters?  And when you understand each biological character, do you understand how the whole system works as a tree or as a forest?  It is not easy.”  That is exactly how I feel right now.  It might take a bit longer to digest and to be able to use the theory Lave and Wenger and others presented about learning and community of practice.  But I do feel that this “forest” [educational system] is getting occupied with only one specie of trees, and that would not sustain it as a “forest” in ecosystem.