Revealing cultural ergonomics and functionality within traditional industry

Abstract

This paper proposes a critical perspective on ergonomics within the context of the traditional industry. In particular, we argue that the cultural understanding of the indigenous tools could demonstrate the local specificity of ergonomics in traditional industry. Drawing on Yuk Hui's concepts of technodiversity, Gilbert Simondon's technical objects and Christopher Alexander's synthesis of form, this paper presents a comprehensive analysis to reveal the functional system behind the emergence of a shading device used during the traditional brickmaking process in Central Java. An analysis was conducted of each part of the device to reveal its emergence, resulting from the relationships between the body, the making process, the tool and the environment. Complex functionality is represented through the simplicity of the form in responding to the required body manoeuvring, the efficiency of the production task and the environmental context, where the simple form has emerged across generations as a solution to a wide range of issues. This analysis represents the emergence of functional systems that are locally specific, suggesting the need to expand the investigation of functionalities within the traditional production process to promote the culture-based ergonomics emerging within the local industry.