ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book maps the network between the various agents that affect practices of knowledge transmission – from the institutionalization of art and craft education in Japan, to the structures and nature of knowledge transmission in the chosen contemporary setting. It engages critically with historiography on craft, and art education, in order to understand the construction of narratives around the history of Kyoto City University of Arts, and how it is crucial for the ethnographer to be cognizant of the conditions under which she accesses knowledge about a practice. The book then explores the different formulations, itineraries and historical contexts that cultural objects can take. It also raises some very difficult yet critical questions that the academy needs to resolve in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
