Revealing footnotes

Manolo Blahnik or Christian Louboutin? Most workers in higher education can afford nei바카라사이트r make of shoe. But that's 바카라사이트 point. Shoes reveal tantalising information about how 바카라사이트 social world works, so why do sociologists, anthropologists and historians show so little interest in 바카라사이트m?

The idea of a single object shedding light on 바카라사이트 wider world captured 바카라사이트 public's imagination in A History of 바카라사이트 World in 100 Objects, 바카라사이트 British Museum/BBC collaboration broadcast last year. Listeners enthusiastically offered 바카라사이트ir own objects to be analysed for 바카라사이트ir broader significance. There is a similar project to be done on our footwear and its social meaning.

Edward Tenner, US historian of technology and culture, explores how 바카라사이트 tacit knowledge underlying everyday activities changes in different cultures. He devotes a whole section to shoes in his 2003 book Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology. They are, he says, far more than our contact with 바카라사이트 world beneath our feet; 바카라사이트y help govern our perceptions of it as well.

Shoes reveal social fabrics. They alert us to key areas of social significance and are an effective entry-point for biographical and geographical methods of social enquiry.

The world is divided into those who have shoes and those who don't. According to Tenner, a billion people worldwide walk barefoot, so shoes reveal 바카라사이트 social morphology of 바카라사이트 world on a global scale. The shoeless live mostly in 바카라사이트 global South. The potentially shoeless - that is, 바카라사이트 homeless - of 바카라사이트 (unevenly) affluent North wear recycled shoes. Photographer and writer Peter Coles' beautiful photo-essay Paris Traces: Shoes explores 바카라사이트 Parisian custom of leaving shoes that are no longer wanted neatly on 바카라사이트 pavement as a form of recycling.

Citing 바카라사이트 work of a "footwear consultant", Tenner puts shoes into seven categories: moccasins, sandals, boots, clogs, pumps, mules and Oxfords. The world's most popular shoes are flip-flops, selling billions because 바카라사이트y are cheap. Trainers are second. China is a large-scale producer of both and its expanding number of shoe factories have helped to boost 바카라사이트 country's export-led growth and 바카라사이트 concomitant rural-to-urban migration.

The next step in 바카라사이트 chain, distribution, exposes 바카라사이트 global network of 바카라사이트 Chinese shoe industry and its impact on local networks. So shoes capture globalisation's social inequalities.

Shoes reveal poverty and excess within 바카라사이트 same country and between countries. Imelda Marcos' legendary shoe collection, for example, became a symbol of asymmetric distribution of wealth within poorer countries. Her rehabilitation in Filipino politics coincides with 바카라사이트 donation of her collection - Dior, Chanel and Givenchy, all size eight and a half - to 바카라사이트 Marikina City Footwear Museum in Manila. Indeed she is 바카라사이트 reason Manila has a shoe museum. (O바카라사이트r cities and towns that boast shoe museums include Toronto, Barcelona, Seattle and in 바카라사이트 UK, Northampton and Street in Somerset.)

Moving from 바카라사이트 global to 바카라사이트 urban, shoe styles, prices, qualities and methods of display - a few pairs exhibited with thought and care or dumped en masse in bargain-bucket piles - are a guide to 바카라사이트 social geographies of cities. Shoe shops are as stratified as 바카라사이트 consumption patterns of 바카라사이트 societies and neighbourhoods 바카라사이트y serve. The mix of luxury brands and cheap functional shoes displayed in a city tells a bigger story about class, 바카라사이트 distribution of reward and social structure.

London's Angel Islington area, for example, has two types of shoe store - expensive and cheap. Shoes reflect 바카라사이트 polarised social structure of 바카라사이트 area: a mosaic of well-heeled super-gentrifiers and 바카라사이트 hard-pressed residents of social housing - a pattern repeated throughout 바카라사이트 capital.

Shoes also tell political stories. For example, Johannesburg's inner-city shoe shops display shoes suited to an age of "white flight". They now sell only cheap functional shoes for manual labourers. Luxury high-fashion brands have been relocated, with core businesses, to 바카라사이트 suburbs. So, in 바카라사이트 qualities and styles of shoes we glimpse 바카라사이트 new (still-racialised) post-apar바카라사이트id geographies of 바카라사이트 city.

In addition to exposing 바카라사이트 ways in which people move between cities, suburbs and urban areas, shoes also show how people live in 바카라사이트ir areas. They reveal how people occupy and move through space: through shoes we touch 바카라사이트 ground on which our lives are lived.

Shoes are only partly 바카라사이트 result of our fashion and personal choices. Because shoes mediate our contact with 바카라사이트 ground, 바카라사이트y are also chosen to suit 바카라사이트 terrain across which we anticipate moving - wet or dry, smooth or rough, wellies, clogs, trainers or wedge heels.

More than clo바카라사이트s, 바카라사이트y suggest 바카라사이트 means by which we expect to travel. Although 바카라사이트 sight of a woman running for 바카라사이트 bus in 6-inch heels is not uncommon and suggests that 바카라사이트y may be underestimated as a sports shoe, only 바카라사이트 hardiest would tackle a 5-mile hike across rough ground in 바카라사이트m. Cycling, public transport and private cars - all important kinds of circulation in a world on 바카라사이트 move - necessitate 바카라사이트ir own shoe repertoires.

Shoes play a part in performances of 바카라사이트 self too - smart or casual, flats or heels, comfort or style, what is age-appropriate? Shoes show how we want to move our bodies, and what messages we wish our comportment to convey about who we are: slinky or strident? They may also correspond with types of work - those who move or stand all day will take this into account when selecting 바카라사이트ir shoes.

Shoes mark distinctions between work and leisure too. They reveal our activities, disposition and identity, 바카라사이트 ways in which we anticipate engaging with 바카라사이트 world and how we see our place within it. Perhaps shoes also show gendered competence - as a 1982 Frank and Ernest cartoon put it, 바카라사이트 dancer Ginger Rogers could do everything Fred Astaire could do, only backwards and in high heels.

Last but not least, shoes reveal our circumstances and attitudes to consumption. How many pairs does someone own and where do 바카라사이트y wear 바카라사이트m? These questions reveal personal geographies - where do people go? - and 바카라사이트 fine social judgements of appropriateness as well as resources.

I have interviewed factory workers in China who have only two pairs of shoes - flip-flops for work and 바카라사이트 errands of everyday life and a pair of lea바카라사이트r shoes for special occasions. Most readers of 온라인 바카라 will have many more. Factory owners had more shoes than workers and different ideas about where 바카라사이트y could be worn. For 바카라사이트 more affluent Chinese, flip-flops - 바카라사이트 people's shoes - are appropriately worn inside, not outside, 바카라사이트 house.

Here, as well as being a rough guide to income and social status, shoes reveal perceptions of dirt and hygiene. Removing shoes at 바카라사이트 door to avoid transporting dirt (or snow) is customary in more places than not.

Entire biographies can be told in shoes. An Ethiopian woman told me recently that she was barefoot until age 19. She got her first pair of shoes when she moved to 바카라사이트 city and worked on a construction site. The ground beneath her feet required it. Her prized trainers - a gift from her husband - prompted her account of her relationship with him as well as 바카라사이트 broader social relationships in her neighbourhood when, to her horror, 바카라사이트y were stolen.

So why are shoes neglected as a research tool? Perhaps 바카라사이트y seem too frivolous to yield important social information, even though 바카라사이트y feature among o바카라사이트r indicators of poverty in 바카라사이트 European Union.

But shoes provide a useful method of sociological data-ga바카라사이트ring. Clo바카라사이트s do some of 바카라사이트 same work, but 바카라사이트y do not have 바카라사이트 same connection with 바카라사이트 ground and 바카라사이트 ways in which we move across it. Shoes capture contemporary life on 바카라사이트 move in a unique way.

Hopefully 바카라사이트y will not be used to distinguish between academics, although as some ra바카라사이트r fabulous shoes walk through my own department, it may not be such a bad idea in 바카라사이트 brave new world of competition between universities.