If the Shoe Fits: Footwear, Identity and Transition
Meeting of the Advisory Board, 6th May, 2011: Report
Present: Fiona Candy, Rachel Dilley, Caroline Evans, Jenny Hockey, Maria McClean,
Victoria Robinson, Gillian Rose, Rebecca Shawcross, Alex Sherlock, Efrat Tseëlon,
Wesley Vernon.
Apologies: Giorgio Riello, Kath Woodward, Sophie Woodward, Caroline Knowles.
Introduction to the Project (Jenny Hockey)
Like much of the research I have been involved with, this project began with a
personal question. Angela Meah, who at that time usually wore sturdy lace-up boots,
shared an ongoing joke with me about the more stereotypically feminine shoes I
wear. It was one of those ‘there’s more to this’ moments and I began to think again
about shoes’ contribution to who we are. I had been working with Angela and Vicki
Robinson on an ESRC funded project that took a cross generational approach to
heterosexuality. For me there was always that question, what makes us who we are
and how can we understand the experience of being a particular person. We took
this question forward into another ESRC project on masculinity, focussing on the
processual, contextual nature of identity and asking whether doing masculinity
within particular occupational environments involved a more marked transition
when men went back and forth between their paid employment and their domestic
environments. We worked with firefighters, estate agents and hairdressers and
expressed our concern with identity as a process in the notion of ‘mobile
masculinities’. Transition remained an important focus when I began to think about
shoes. As an anthropologist I was familiar with Van Gennep’s Rites of Passage
schema and was unsatisfied with our understanding of how exactly people were
changed as they went through formal rituals like initiation, marriage, healing. As we
now recognise, embodied experience was neglected in much work of this kind.
So the proposal I developed with Vicki Robinson put embodied experience and
transition at the heart of its inquiry. The relationship between shoes and the body is
intimate – they take on its shape and they shape it. As people move between
contexts they may change their shoes – or the experience of wearing a particular
pair may be very different in different settings. So footwear seemed a useful lens for
getting at the processual nature of identity as an embodied experience. And when it
comes to more marked points of transition – the kinds Van Gennep was interested in
– shoes often hold symbolic potency. The mysterious nature of how we become who
we are – and how we might change – has also preoccupied story-tellers of all kinds –
and transition, for better or for worse, is key to fairy tales, pop songs, advertising –
and shoes often take centre stage here with Cinderella’s slippers as the obvious
example.
Once we had funding Rachel Dilley and Alex Sherlock joined us and the six page case
for support began to come alive. What Vicki brings to the project, both in developing
it and working on it is:
As Jenny has said, through working together on our previous ESRC projects on
heterosexuality and masculinity, we have both been passionately interested in issues
of embodiment, the processual nature of identity and the theoretical issue of
transition, amongst other aspects. I have also been interested, through my own work
on so called 'extreme sports', (a research area I share with Rachel) in the conceptual
framework of the mundane and the extraordinary. This is something I encapsulated
in my ethnographical research on British rock climbers, whose 'extraordinary'
sporting lives, full of risk and potential danger can, over historical and biographical
time become routinised and 'mundane' . I conceptualised this insight as 'mundane
extremities' which is a means by which to explore rock climber's embodied identities
over the life course. This engagement with the mundane and the extraordinary thus
taps into the symbolic potency of shoes that Jenny has just referred to. It is no
accident that a pair of climbing shoes are the most emotionally charged, and, at the
same time, most functional piece of equipment that a climber will own.
As well, I have always had feminist theory as my theoretical touchstone (indeed, I
never leave the house without it). In this, I am particularly fascinated by historical
and contemporary narratives of feminism around pleasure, appearance, and agency.
This can be characterised, for me, as 'the intimate connection between (feminist)
principle and pleasure in adornment'. The place of shoes in these historical and
current feminist discourses has not been fully voiced, and certainly not empirically
interrogated.
Rachel is the Research Associate on ‘If the shoe fits…’. She has a multi-disciplinary
background, having studied history, philosophy, gender studies, sociology, sport and
leisure studies. Her research centres on the sociology of the body, identity, gender,
the environment, extreme sports, qualitative methods, visual methods and multisensory lived experience. Prior to taking up her post at the University of Sheffield,
she worked at the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen (now the James Hutton Institute)
on a range of projects relating to the environment. It was here that she developed
her interest in visual methods. Rachel is particularly interested in how new
technologies can provide researchers with new ways of addressing methodological
challenges and the potential for visual methods to develop our understanding of
habitual, taken-for-granted, embodied, emotional, kinaesthetic and sensory
experience. In relation to shoes, Rachel is particularly interested in how the
technologies of different shoes mediate movement in and through different
environments; how this can create and develop different physical competencies and
various forms of comportment. She is interested in the relationship between cultural
discourses, social structures (such as gender, class, ethnicity) and the experiential
ways that we come know ourselves, others, the environment and the wider world.
Alex is carrying out her PhD in tandem with the research project and the aim is that
the PhD and the research project will co-inform one-another. Alex comes from a
practical fashion design and advertising background – both of which inform her
current PhD research. She started teaching contextual studies in the Fashion and
Textile department at Nottingham Trent University and completed an MA in Material
and Visual culture at UCL last year. Alex was new to anthropology last year and new
to sociology this year and is looking forward to any advice that the advisory and
virtual advisory boards might be able to give her with regards to the progression of
her PhD. It was during her MA that she found out about the project, at which point
she was immediately reminded of a personal experience when she drew a pair of
trainers before having to dispose of them – she realised that the act of drawing had
enabled her to examine the transformation of the shoe and it’s individual connection
to herself. It was this transformation that captured her imagination and this project
provided her with the opportunity to study this in much greater depth.
We have now been working together for 8 months. The exhilaration of receiving
funding/getting a job and a studentship at a time of serious financial stringency
meant that we were all determined to make the utmost of this opportunity. But as
well as revisiting its original aims from the perspectives of a whole team, we have
had to work hard to recognise the difference between what we would like to do and
what is possible within time, energy and budgetary constraints. The original research
design focussed on everyday experiences of shoe wear, as a means of getting at
embodied identity as a process, along with the status of shoes as memory objects
which fleshed out people’s personal narratives. How representations of shoes, in
historical and contemporary popular culture contributed to and reflected all this was
a parallel question. However we rapidly became aware of a whole range of shoe
‘specialists’: designers, podiatrists, sex workers, shoe collectors – and really wanted
to talk to them. We also thought more about investigating difference, that members
of the ‘non-specialist’ population were likely to have very different relationships with
shoes, depending not just on age and gender but class, ethnic identity, health status,
sportspeople of all kinds, self-confessed ‘shoe lovers’. And along with this we rapidly
became aware of the many other people with a research interest of some kind in
footwear – and the range of ways in which our project might have impact. Reviewing
all these possibilities led us to the following: interviews with ‘specialists’ was
something for which we didn’t have time or money – but we’ve been able to recruit
an Advisory Board with very diverse specialisms, from fashion, identity and podiatry
through to museum curating and shoe design. This list didn’t exhaust possibilities
and we added a Virtual Advisory Board which expanded these specialisms and
helped established contact with people working around shoes and identity in
different parts of the world. The original five focus groups has also been expanded
significantly to thirteen, to include shoe lovers, people with health problems, Black
and minority ethnic people. The richness of the data we’re currently gathering led us
to decide on a preliminary coding and analysis, before we begin our individual yearlong case studies, and to plan two papers based on these focus group data.
Meanwhile Alex Sherlock, who holds the project studentship, has been developing
the original plan of work for her part of the study.
Overview of PhD Role (Alex Sherlock)
Alex is currently carrying out a series of literature reviews on fashion and footwear
literature, social Identity, representation, transition and transformation, body theory
and consumption. This will lead to her upgrade in September. It is a particular aim of
Alex’s to contribute to current fashion theory with contemporary empirical research
that does not just focus on the spectacle of the shoe (fetish, heels etc.), as with lots
of the existing literature on footwear. She will be presenting a paper at the
Interdisciplinary 3rd Global Fashion Conference at Mansfield College, Oxford in
September entitled: ‘Footwear: transcending the mind body dualism in fashion
theory’ She will also be giving a paper at the ‘Power and Empowerment’ University
of Sheffield Sociological Studies postgraduate conference later this month in which
she will focus on the reasons ‘shoes’ as a research topic provoke such a controversial
reaction amongst so many fellow academics and the general public.
Alex will commence her fieldwork in September. An early fieldwork outline proposes
a systematic content analysis of popular footwear discourses in the media and
popular culture. She aims to use this information in interviews and observations
carried out with various individuals who have a connection with the biography of the
shoe - from design to disposal. The focus will be on participants’ own personal
experiences of footwear and not their professional interests, and aims to shed light
on the connections between representation and lived experience.
Fieldwork Progress Report (Rachel Dilley)
Focus Groups
Nine focus groups have taken place so far. These are the pilot, female shoe lovers
(self-defined), older people (65-88), young women (18-20), young men (19-25),
health and/or foot problems affecting footwear, generic, widows and climbers. Sixtythree people from different socio-economic backgrounds, including men and women
and people of different ages from 16-88, have taken part. There are four remaining
focus groups, which will take place in May and early June. These are male shoe
lovers/collectors (self defined), parents, British Pakistani women and Black and
Minority Ethnic men. In all there will be approximately 90 focus group participants.
Demographics
The gender split is currently uneven as two-thirds are women and a third men. All
participants have identified as heterosexual. With regards to ethnicity, all are white
British with the exception of four participants (Zimbabwean, Ukrainian, British Asian
and white other). Various forms of disability, including arthritis, hearing impairments
and Parkinsons, affect the older participants. Income ranges from Jobseeker’s
Allowance, student loans and pensioners up to £45000+. Most however are on lower
incomes.
Recruitment
Most of the focus group participants were self-selecting, responding to recruitment
postcards, posters, an article in the local newspaper or having had the details of the
project passed on to them by a friend. Recruitment postcards were distributed
around Sheffield in cafes, community centres, a Citizens Advice Bureau, via healthy
eating and parenting classes, at a private physiotherapists, a community farm, a
cinema, a bar, in newsagents shop windows, shoe shops and material shops. Posters
were put on notice boards in climbing walls. Rachel attended a meeting of a
diabetic’s organisation that was about foot problems and made an appeal for
volunteers there. A recruitment email was sent to undergraduates. There is also a
recruitment page on the website and Jenny promoted the project on BBC Radio
Sheffield. Two focus groups (older people and widows) were recruited via existing
community groups. A few people who were existing acquaintances of the project
team also volunteered.
A great deal of effort has been made to recruit Black and minority ethnic people,
initially with little success. Contact was made with community workers, Rachel
presented the project to a group of advanced English language learners, postcards
have been displayed Black and minority ethnic areas of Sheffield, contact has been
made with the main mosque and a direct approach has also been taken - discussing
the project with people working in shops and asking if they would be interested in
taking part. We have only recently successfully recruited participants for these
groups via a community worker.
Timetable
 Completion of remaining focus groups - 3rd June 2011
 Analysis of focus groups - Tues 31st May – 15th June 2011
 Commence case studies – 4th July 2011 – Sept 2012 (so far we have 45
volunteers for these – we only need 20)
Contacts and Links
1. Academic Projects
 Dinah Eastop (Southampton and UCL) set a project in 1998 that documents
concealed garments (including shoes) www.concealedgarments.org

Fiona Candy, University of Central Lancashire and Anita Williams at the
University of Salford are setting up “Walks of Life”: an interdisciplinary
project that builds on the momentum set up at University of Central
Lancashire by Arthritis Research UK and the Footwear Design Challenge.

Caroline Knowles at Goldsmiths in collaboration with Michael Tan, National
University of Singapore Museum, have conducted a
sociological/anthropological study of flip-flops incorporating visual methods
in the form of photography.
http://www.nus.edu.sg/museum/exhibitions_flip-flop.html

Naomi Braithwaite at Nottingham Trent University is currently completing a
PhD on footwear design.

Thomas Turner, a postgraduate in the history department at Birkbeck is
carrying out a social and cultural history of sports shoes from the late C19th
to the late C20th. t.turner@imperial.ac.uk

Sophie Rackham, a former MA student at Durham, produced an exhibition
and related activities at Durham University. sophie.rackham@hotmail.co.uk

Georgina Merry, undertaking a BA in Geography at King's College London, is
exploring the geographical aspects behind footwear choice in London.
georgina.merry@kcl.ac.uk
2. Exhibitions

Norwich Museum ‘Talking Shoes’ Project in 2007

Northampton Shoe Museum where Amy Wright, Josephine Hickin, Victoria
Davies and Rebecca Shawcross are all carrying out exhibition and education
projects. rshawcross@northampton.gov.uk

The Cuming Museum, Southwark where Hannah Guthrie curated an
exhibition which combined the museum’s shoe holdings with trainers
customised by young people locally.

The Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Elizabeth Semmelhack is currently writing
book on shoes and identity in the twentieth century.
3. Films and Related Projects

Matthew Bate collated beliefs surrounding sneaker tossing from around the
world and made a documentary, Flying Kicks.
mattbate@closerproductions.com.au

Geoff Budd of Sole Intentions has conduced a photographic study on the art
of ‘shoes from power lines’ featuring a collective mosaic from hundreds of
images submitted from around the world and next level street art from New
York’s ‘Skewville’. http://www.soleintentions.com/

Cynthia Salzman Mondell of Sole Sisters, a film-maker is gathering shoe
stories from women around the world and planning to collaborate with the
Dallas Museum of Art. cynfilm@mediaprojects.org
Dissemination
Activities to date

British Sociological Association Annual Conference, Easter 2010
Paper entitled ‘Identity, Becoming and Shoes’ (available on project website).

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, September, 2010
Paper entitled ‘Embodied Identity and Footwear’.

Northampton Shoe Museum Sneaker Speakers Symposium, 2nd April 2011
Talk entitled ‘Who do you think you are?’ (available on project website).

Leeds University’s CPD Health Innovation Symposium ‘Shoes Made for
Walking? Developing Specialist Footwear Services to Meet the Needs of
Patients’, 5th April 2011, attended as participants.
Planned activities

September 2011
Fashion: Exploring Critical Issues Conference, Oxford
Paper entitled ‘Footwear: Transcending the Mind and Body Dualism in
Fashion Theory to be presented and included in subsequent publication

Paper developed from talk on trainers given at Northampton Shoe Museum
to be submitted for publication

December 2011
First paper deriving from focus group data to be submitted for publication.

February 2012
Project position paper to be submitted for publication.

Easter 2012
Second paper deriving from focus group data to be submitted for publication.

Kroto educational films – primary and secondary school teaching resource