From the end of the Nineteenth century, and especially during the first half of the twentieth century, France experienced a fashion for glass bead funeral wreaths in cemeteries. Work was organised between factories and craft workshops throughout France, divided into several stages of manufacture. Concurrently, another type of workforce was recruited informally to string the beads: prison inmates, blind people and, more broadly, people with disabilities, who are generally excluded from the traditional labour market. The aim of this article is therefore to look at the ways in which organised work and informal work meet, to understand whether there is a collision or collaboration. It also looks at the value attributed to bead-stringing.
Les voix inaudibles de l’enfilage des perles : acteurs du marché de la couronne funéraire en France (xixe-xxe siècles)
Louise Bonvalet
2026-01-01
Abstract
From the end of the Nineteenth century, and especially during the first half of the twentieth century, France experienced a fashion for glass bead funeral wreaths in cemeteries. Work was organised between factories and craft workshops throughout France, divided into several stages of manufacture. Concurrently, another type of workforce was recruited informally to string the beads: prison inmates, blind people and, more broadly, people with disabilities, who are generally excluded from the traditional labour market. The aim of this article is therefore to look at the ways in which organised work and informal work meet, to understand whether there is a collision or collaboration. It also looks at the value attributed to bead-stringing.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
