Wolverhampton Intellectual Repository and E-Theses
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Item An examination of handtextile practice within commercial, artistic and digital contexts reconfigured through visible mending(University of Wolverhampton, 2025-01)Hidden work carried out by women in this practice-based study examines connections between hand skills in current practice through darning and mending to re-configure moving image and textile artifacts. This research adopts an auto ethnographic and practice-based methodology prioritising a willingness to share, references John Roberts’ (2007) concepts of de-skilling and re-skilling and applies Richard Sennett’s (2012) concepts of differentiating exchange and definitions of repair to develop textile practice and experimental moving image through visible mending methodologies as outcomes. A series of pilot studies considered hand skills preferred by artists, the continuing practice of hand embroidery in Madeira and traditional knitting in Cornwall. These projects preceded the development of an extended study into mending within industrial weaving of high-quality cloth. Working as a solo filmmaker, material was gathered through dialogical conversations (Gablik 1992, Kester 2013, Sennett 2012) with women working during short visits to weaving mills in various parts of the UK. The major study explored, through moving image, the reality that within industrial production there remains the time consuming and skilful process of invisibly repairing flaws within the weaving process that little is known about. Work is undertaken by professional women looking for knots and flaws in mills, producing high quality cloth, whether for billiard tables or Savile Row tailors. Invisible mending practiced by teams of women continues virtually unchanged in high tech industry, even kept invisible from clients. While skills in darning and mending used to be passed on in the home, it has been in decline since the availability of cheap clothing. However, in recent years darning and mending has become a fashionable social activity. Mending groups are reviving and sharing the skills needed to repair and repurpose clothing by stitching visible repairs as a statement of social responsibility. The significance of uncertainty and possibility (Akama, Pink & Sumartojo 2018, Cocker 2013, Fortnum 2014) within the live situation of collecting sound and visual material has led to the development of a mending methodology applied to film editing and textile making. By valuing the visible material captured in a live situation as a document of the experience has informed the development of my visible mending methodology. Editing as patchwork with visibly glitched repair patches (Menkman 2011, Cubitt 2015, 2017) created and added to the moving image timeline and re-configured in subsequent textile prints which have been presented as outcomes and exhibition, Re-configured Conversations (2023).Item Emotional eating within a clinical and community population(University of Wolverhampton, 2024-12)Introduction: Emotional eating literature has focused on those with a clinical diagnosis around eating difficulties, exploring emotional eating in response to ‘negative’ emotions. Limited studies investigate the prevalence of emotional eating within community samples, and evidence appears inconclusive as to the underlying reasons why individuals emotionally eat. Aim: This research explores emotional eating within clinical and community samples. A clinically obese binge eating disordered population in study one, and a community sample during the coronavirus pandemic in study two. The aims were to explore experiences of emotional eating, comparing and contrasting across the two populations and in doing so, provide recommendations for therapeutic interventions. Method: In Study one, in-person focus groups and telephone individual interviews were conducted with a clinically obese binge eating disordered population (focus groups n = 8 female, n = 2 male; individual interviews n = 5 female) recruited via two national health service weight management centres. In study two, semi-structured online interviews using Microsoft Teams were carried out with eight participants (male n = 5; female n = 3) recruited following engagement with a previous emotional eating based study (see Ruiz et al., 2023), and via an opportunity and snowball sampling to explore emotional eating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed as the approach to understand the experiences of participants whilst allowing for the researcher to engage in reflection throughout analysis. Findings: For the clinical population four main themes were generated: ‘An awareness of eating in response to emotions’ which reflects an initial lack of awareness of eating in response to emotions with a growing awareness and moment of insight into this phenomenon. ‘Emotions eliciting emotional eating’ reflects the participants experiences of individual emotions eliciting an eating response. ‘Factors perceived as influencing eating behaviours’ reflects factors that influence eating behaviours such as environmental influences. ‘Recommendations for interventions’ reflects the need for interventions that identifies emotional eating and binge eating disorder. Within the community population four main themes were generated those were ‘The impact of the coronavirus pandemic’ highlighting the changes and effect of the pandemic on participants. ‘The influence of emotions on eating behaviours’ reflects the emotional antecedents of subsequent eating behaviours. ‘The function of eating beyond reaching satiety’ reflects the participants use of eating including emotional regulation and ‘the emotional eating cycle’. Conclusions: Emotional eating was present in both clinical and community populations. For the clinical population emotional eating occurred predominantly in response to unpleasant emotions and was used to manage emotions. Emotional eating in response to unpleasant emotions occurred in the community population but to a lesser extent. The community population were able to draw on a wider range of coping mechanisms including emotional eating. Pleasant emotional states appeared to align with eating healthier foods and wellbeing. Implications for clinical practice: At a community level exploration of emotions and eating behaviours could help avoid the development of clinical difficulties. Eating could be used in a conscious way to regulate emotions, and through being mindful of such uses, it can form part of a well-developed repertoire of emotional regulation strategies. When eating becomes a dominant emotion regulatory mechanism clinical difficulties and unwanted outcomes such as weight gain can occur.Item Waste harvesting: lessons learned from the development of waste-to-energy power plants in Indonesia(Emerald, 2025-01-22)Purpose The purpose of this research is to analyse the development and implementation of waste-to-energy (WtE) power plants as a strategy to manage municipal solid waste (MSW) in Indonesia. It aims to identify key determinants for the successful adoption of WtE technology in developing countries, focusing on the Benowo WtE power plant, Indonesia’s first large-scale WtE project. Design/methodology/approach This study reviews the development of the Benowo WtE power plant, examining political, regulatory and financial factors influencing its implementation. It analyses the roles of national and local government institutions, highlighting critical elements for the successful deployment of WtE projects in a developing country context. Findings The review shows that the success of WtE projects in Indonesia is significantly influenced by strong local government commitment, supported by political, financial and regulatory backing from the national government. The Benowo WtE power plant’s development demonstrates that with adequate support, WtE can be a viable solution for managing MSW and generating energy in developing countries. The study also identifies barriers to broader WtE adoption in similar contexts. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to 12 WtE projects in Indonesia, with in-depth analysis focused on a single case, potentially overlooking challenges and opportunities in other regions. Furthermore, the study does not include an economic analysis, such as a feasibility assessment. Future research could expand to multiple WtE projects and incorporate primary data collection to provide more comprehensive findings, including feasibility studies of each project. Practical implications The findings provide practical guidance for policymakers and stakeholders in developing countries, identifying critical areas for successful WtE deployment and offering a blueprint based on the Benowo WtE power plant. Social implications Implementing WtE projects can improve waste management, reduce pollution, enhance public health, create jobs and stimulate local economies. The study underscores the importance of government and community collaboration in addressing environmental challenges and fostering shared responsibility. Originality/value This research offers novel insights into WtE technology development in a developing country, specifically focusing on Indonesia’s first large-scale WtE power plant. By analysing the Benowo WtE power plant, the study provides valuable lessons and strategies for other developing nations aiming to adopt WtE solutions for MSW management, emphasising the critical role of government support.Item Sumud as connected learning: towards a collective digital commons in Palestine(Ubiquity Press, 2025-03-06)This paper postulates how connected learning in Palestine is characterised by the metaphor of Sumud as a steadfast resistance to disruption. We propose that the metaphor of Sumud symbolises connectedness for displaced people, whose need for connected learning encompasses a cultural and critical pedagogy, heritage, and self-determination. Palestinians exist in paradoxes we explore, particularly in those who seek to remain in their homeland but also as free to travel, study and work abroad, none of which are simple. For those who stay, education equates to an attempted continuity of normal life, which is explored through discussions with higher education teachers as part of this paper’s research design. We use Sumud to symbolize connected learning grounded in a sovereign culture that displaced communities may otherwise lose. Drawing from data resulting from an Erasmus+–funded project between the UK and Palestine, we underpin a proposal for a digital commons. The digital commons is presented as a potential toolkit of decentralised online spaces for shared learning opportunities, encapsulating Sumud for connected learning among displaced people. We propose that a theoretical framework for Sumud as a metaphor for critical pedagogy must reconcile the separate constituents of safe online spaces, social aspiration, cultural sovereignty, and political displacement and that this is manifest in the toolkit.Item Shrovetide memorial: The Stonyhurst College 1930 production of Journey’s End(SAGE, 2025-03-31)This article considers a school production of R. C. Sherriff’s 1928 anti-war play Journey’s End, at Stonyhurst College in 1930, under the direction of a Jesuit priest who had served as an army chaplain during the First World War. The production was presented on the occasion of Shrovetide which, the article argues, in tandem with a wider tendency of the beginnings of memorialisations of the war dead, effectively allowed for the production to be read in Catholic liturgical terms. Thus the production is considered as an intervention which sought to concentrate young minds on questions related to religious worship and commitment at the point of a rapidly changing world, and in anticipation of their own pending roles in the Second World War. In these respects, the article concludes, the production anticipated the concerns for liturgical renewal of Vatican II.
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