Artisan food carts in portland OR
Topic: Choose one area of focus from the many artisan cultures discussed in Charles Heying’s Brews to Bikes. You
will need to examine your topic in some depth. You can follow up on any of the clues the authors give as to the
general conditions of the artisan culture/economy you are researching. You can also choose to select your own
“artisan’ culture such as body modification or tattoos, or other artisan cultures you may be familiar with being
careful to be sure they conform to Heying’s definition of artisan culture/economy.
So for example if you choose to research bikes you could look at the following:
• How has the biking community changed since the book was written (2009 it was published in 2010 but most of the
work was completed before 2009)
• How did the economic downturn of 2008-2012 affected this sector?
• What relationship do artisans themselves (bike makers -you’d have to interview one) see between this region and
others (say Seattle or another comparable big city) in terms of their product?
• Why is Portland so popular with bike artisans?
• What are the main concerns of bike purveyors in Portland? Are they concerned about safety, theft, and divisions
in their community?
• What do they think about the notion of an “Artisan Economy” (Of course you would need to tell them what that
is)
A similar list of questions about the sector you are interested in can form the basis of your paper proposal.
For this project we will also be working with Bruce Ballenger’s text The Curious Researcher. This text has many
exercises and tips for writing a solid research paper. I have scheduled short discussions of this text throughout
the term. You will also do some of the exercises in mentor session.
