Publications

NEW from PSE CONSULTANCY - THE AMAZING NEW BOOK

CULTURAL WELL-BEING AND CULTURAL CAPITAL

Second edition now available as a paper back book

This book has more information, definitions, examples and practical suggestions for using culture as a key to development.

It also includes an analysis of phases of culture, and the meaning and measurement of cultural capital. This second edition includes new sections, including extra information relating to how cultures communicate and on how to use opportunity costs to measure the cost of not using culture for development.

 

 

New Zealand

$NZ 45.00 (incld. GST)

United Kingdom

£ 15.00

Australia

$A 40.00

South Africa

ZAR 220.00

Europe

€ 25.00

United States

$US 30.00

 

A few copies of the First Edition on CD version are still available At $NZ29.95, UKŁ10, €15, US$20

   

Both book and CD are as above plus postage and packaging

To order just email the order to and we can arrange for invoice, credit card payment or automatic bank payment

culture@pseconsultancy.com

This publication has been sponsored by "G" Fund, Local Government New Zealand and Design Haus

Reviews and comments on the CD book.

Dr Robin Philipp MBChB, FRCP, FFOM, FFPH, FAFPHM, MSc (MedSc), DPH, DIH, DCH. Consultant Occupational and Public Health Physician in the Bristol Royal Infirmary, (BRI) England. Director Centre for Health in Employment and the Environment (CHEE), and Senior Clinical Lectureship with the University of Bristol.

"In support of human understanding and well-being Penny Eames you have given us what is desperately needed in today's society - a very important and useful framework and a clear structure to help build and strengthen cultural capital."

Khan Ferdousour Rahman Independent Freelance Development Consultant, The Daily Star and the Financial Express, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Your Cultural Well-being and Cultural Capital Book was very interesting and it was very difficult to leave without finishing the book. Last night I could finish once, I will go through once again within next 2/3 days. After going through I understand that every sentence of the book is very important. I liked your expression about social capital, and as a student of development particularly the measurement of culture in terms of opportunity cost.

Neil Sinclair, Mayor South Waikato District Council, New Zealand

"Social capital is now accepted and understood. Penny Eames has now wonderfully introduced the term cultural capital and given it clear and well defined parameters. Congratulations"

Jeanette Baalbergen NZRN, Poet and Arts Worker/ disability sector, Auckland New Zealand

"Penny thankyou, this is an inspirational, engaging read abundant with forward thinking concepts towards healthier communities. A brilliant read, abounding in practical creative insights towards a healthier communities"

Neal Price Arts Worker, Ross Bower Award Recipient 2003 Brisbane, Australia

"Penny Eames outlines with remarkable clarity the benefits of working from a cultural perspective to create sustainable community well being and cohesion. Her evaluation of sub-cultures and their impact on a nation's cultural identity is stimulating and thought provoking. This book is a valuable resource for students or professionals engaged in Community Cultural Development processes. My own research on the topic has been assisted greatly by Penny's ability to distil years of experience into such clear and concise areas of practice".

Review 7th December 2006
Cultural capital to prevent social exclusion
Khan Ferdousour Rahman

ONE of the major challenges facing a number of developing countries is how to promote social cohesion and combat social exclusion. Any ethnic strife and social exclusion threaten the peace and orderly development in those countries, which with the resultant racial polarisation and fledging democracy due to confrontational politics may reinforce. The community requires social interaction, a genuine coming together of people in close contact to exchange ideas and feelings.
Culture in the centre of development is a key to peace, reconciliation and prosperity. Culture plays a very important role when people are confronted by world tragedies, associated with war or terror events, natural disasters, cultural intolerance, misunderstanding or discrimination in media representation. Then cultural diversity, respect for mutual relationship and global stability are very important for promoting peace and unity of mankind. By using culture and cultural well-being as the key to peace, reconciliation and economic transformation, people can contribute to the alleviation of worldwide problems, such as poverty, starvation, violence and cultural clash.
The decision makers may think about various ways they can recognise and value culture as a starting point to transform economies and create social inclusion, understanding and connectedness within the societies. Culture is not simply art, music and literature; it is the total collection of behaviour patterns, values and beliefs that characterise a particular group of people. Penny Eames describes culture as the manifest complex patterns of behaviour that evolve over time, which define any group. It includes manners, social codes, good or bad tastes, forms of address, food, dress, attitudes to time, place and social status, politics, modes of communal action, and how people respect others.
Most people belong to a variety of cultures and subcultures through their membership of communities, ethnic groups, social classes, age groups, religions, workplaces, organisations, sports-clubs, schools and casual groups. The cultural capital describes the value of culture when measured as an asset in terms of economic, social and environmental resources. The cultural sector would benefit if it recognises that arts and culture are a key feature in the whole of our lives, and ought to be central to community planning.
The concept of the cultural capital has received widespread attention all around the world, from theorists and researchers alike. It is mostly employed in relation to the education system, but on odd occasion has been used or developed in other discourses. The cultural capital is a sociological concept that has gained widespread popularity since it was first articulated by the French Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. He discovered the distinction between material wealth and cultural assets of a particular class and reasoned that culture adds to the wealth of a particular class. The class differences in the cultural capital are rooted in network differences.
The concept of cultural capital refers to the role those distinctive kinds of cultural tastes, knowledge and abilities play in the processes of class formations of contemporary societies.
It has been particularly influential in sociological accounts of the ways in which the middle classes distinguish themselves from the working classes through their distinctive cultural tastes, knowledge and competencies. It has also played a significant role in accounts of differences within the middle classes. Parents provide children with the cultural capital, the attitudes and knowledge that make the educational system a comfortable familiar place in which they can succeed easily. These accounts of cultural capital and its role in the organisation of class differences now also inform the makers cultural policies how to mitigate the effects of social exclusion. In all these respects, the concept of cultural capital constitutes a promising starting point for understanding how social inequalities are organised.
The writer is a freelancer who can be reached at e-mail: ferdous3820@yahoo.co.uk

19th October 2006
Book Review
Khan Ferdousour Rahman

Cultural Well-being and Cultural Capital

THE book has been written by Penny Eames, Managing Director of Arts Access International and PSE Consultancy. Both the organisations work as international community consultants specialising in community planning and research focused on cultural well-being. The book represents the culmination of twenty-five years of work by the writer in the field of the arts, education and cultural well-being.
Her work seeks sustainable solutions to social problems using tools from the many stands of multicultural heritage, assisting people to find what works for them, individually or in groups. Her objective is to enable everyone whatever their ability and whatever their circumstances to find their full potential.
Culture plays very important role when people are confronted by world tragedies associated with war or terror events, natural disasters, cultural intolerance, misunderstanding or media representation. Then cultural diversity, respect for relationship and global stability are very important. This publication aims to challenge community leaders, arts administrators and the cultural sector generally to think about cultural well-being and cultural capital as two of the keys for transforming economies, places and lives. Her analysis and thinking has been influenced by her work in the arts and education sectors and in communities, in prison with inmates, in hospitals and institutions with patients and staffs and in a range of communities, including those of people with disabilities, young people, the elderly, and refugee and migrants.
It presents the readers with the current thinking about how to develop, invest in and use culture and treat it as a valuable asset that is able to transform communities, while giving arts and culture a central role in society. The writer has hoped that by using culture and cultural well-being as the key to peace, reconciliation and economic transformation, people can contribute to the alleviation of worldwide problems such as poverty, starvation, violence and culture-clash.
The book will obviously encourage the decision makers to think of ways they can recognise and value culture as a starting point to transform economies and create social inclusion, understanding and connectedness within the societies. This book is recommended to anyone who cares about their communities and the children who grow up in them and to all who want to make those communities better places for them all to live in.
The beautiful cover design has followed the 'Green man' - chain saw sculpture in Tokoroa of New Zealand, which is a timber town and the sculpture celebrates the culture of the town. You may please contact:

penny.eames@paradise.net.nz or ferdous3820@ yahoo.co.uk for placing your order.

The writer is a freelancer who can be reached at E-mail: ferdous3820@yahoo.co.uk


Song birds -The Arts in Prisons Training Manual

This publication is now available - information on prices and payment options to publications@pseconsultancy.com

This is a training manual for people working in art and prison projects anywhere in the world, but particularly focused on the situation in South Africa. It draws on 20 years of experience in art and justice projects in New Zealand and South Africa.

For further information contact : publications@pseconsultancy.com

Information included includes information relevant to anyone working in the art and prison environment:

  • What do we mean by Arts and Culture
  • Arts and Culture in the Justice Sector
  • Arts and Culture in Prisons
  • Understanding and analysing Prison cultures
  • Physical Environment of Prisons
  • Desired Outcomes
  • Setting up Arts Programmes in Prisons
  • What Art can you use?
  • What happens when things go wrong?
  • Copyright and intellectual property concerns
  • Presentation of the art
  • Partnerships with the community
  • Art for Special groups in prisons
  • Income generation for offenders
  • Innovation and excellence
  • References and websites

 


Where to get them? Penny Eames' books are popular. Arts Solutions has been reprinted four times.

If you wish to find out about them or purchase them then try the following websites.

Art Solutions in social and community settings; November 2004 - available Arts Access Aotearoa www.artsaccess.org.nz

Creative business income generation for people on the margins of society www.artsaccess.org.nz

Social Inclusion and Arts Solutions - culture and community. Steele Rogers Ltd, or through www.artsaccess.org.nz

Art and Health Partnership www.artsaccess.org.nz

Freedom and fantasy - Art in prison and the justice sector www.artsaccess.org.nz

Fundraising - Random House 1995 (out of print), but a few available from penny.eames@pseconsultancy.com Cost $NZ15.00 plus postage.