The legacy of denim in America, as seen through early FSA photographs of blue collar workers
There is perhaps no other fabric so inextricably associated with a country as is denim with the United States of America. First popularized by Levi's iconic jean designs in the mid-1800s, denim quickly became the material of choice for working-class Americans, spurring an influx of other brands making workwear with the durable and ubiquitous fabric--from Wrangler and Lee to OshKosh and Carhartt. In the 1950s, denim moved from a work fabric to leisurewear. A large part of this transition was a new generation trying to connect with the rugged, patriotic spirit that the ordinary worker had come to symbolize after the onset of World War II.
This volume traces the origins of this shift through a compendium of photos, drawn primarily from the archive of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), featuring American workers in denim. In both black and white and color, we see ordinary American laborers in the fields, dam construction workers, women toiling on the Chicago railroad, unemployed miners and steelworkers preparing the country for war, all donning denim overalls, jeans, jackets and shirts.
The selection of 250 images represents an incredible feat of curation, drawing from an archive of over 170,000 images containing well-known stories and untold histories, but which has never been looked at through the prism of fashion history before. The images have all been rescanned from the original negatives and are reproduced here in exquisite quality such that the details of the denim--the heft of the weave, white stitching stark against indigo, cuffed hems--appear startlingly modern.
Community Engagement in Post-Disaster Recovery reflects a wide array of practical experiences in working with disaster-affected communities internationally. It demonstrates that widely held assumptions about the benefits of community consultation and engagement in disaster recovery work need to be examined more critically because poorly conceived and hastily implemented community engagement strategies have sometimes exacerbated divisions within affected communities and/or resulted in ineffective use of aid funding. It is equally demonstrated that well-crafted, creative and thoughtful programming is possible.
The wide collection of case studies of practical experience from around the world is presented to help establish ways of working with communities experiencing great challenges. The book offers practical suggestions on how to give more substance to the rhetoric of community consultation and engagement in these areas of work. It suggests the need to work with a dynamic understanding of community formation that is particularly relevant when people experience unforeseen challenges and traumatic experiences. This title interrogates the concept of community through an extensive review of the literature and explores the ways of working with communities in transition and particularly in their recovery phases through an array of case studies in a range of socioeconomic and political contexts.
Focused on the concept of community in post-disaster recovery solutions-an aspect which has received little critical interrogation in the literature-this book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars in disaster management as well as humanitarian agencies.
Community Engagement in Post-Disaster Recovery reflects a wide array of practical experiences in working with disaster-affected communities internationally. It demonstrates that widely held assumptions about the benefits of community consultation and engagement in disaster recovery work need to be examined more critically because poorly conceived and hastily implemented community engagement strategies have sometimes exacerbated divisions within affected communities and/or resulted in ineffective use of aid funding. It is equally demonstrated that well-crafted, creative and thoughtful programming is possible.
The wide collection of case studies of practical experience from around the world is presented to help establish ways of working with communities experiencing great challenges. The book offers practical suggestions on how to give more substance to the rhetoric of community consultation and engagement in these areas of work. It suggests the need to work with a dynamic understanding of community formation that is particularly relevant when people experience unforeseen challenges and traumatic experiences. This title interrogates the concept of community through an extensive review of the literature and explores the ways of working with communities in transition and particularly in their recovery phases through an array of case studies in a range of socioeconomic and political contexts.
Focused on the concept of community in post-disaster recovery solutions--an aspect which has received little critical interrogation in the literature--this book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars in disaster management as well as humanitarian agencies.