What is it about?
This paper examines how know-how for cultural work is shared through mentorship despite challenges like increasing digital mediation. Drawing on a case study of a Vancouver program, we conceptualize mentorship as a figuration shaped by three threads: a constellation of actors, frames of relevance, and communicative practice. Reconceptualizing mentorship this way highlights its collective, relational, and technological dimensions, expanding understandings of how knowledge for cultural work is organized and shared.
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Why is it important?
This paper is important because its findings challenge a traditional assumption of mentorship – that its value lies in mentors and mentees developing a shared, face-to-face work through close contact. Our exploration of mentorship as a figuration shows that, despite complexity and inequity related to digital mediation, mentors and mentees can still share experiences and knowledge with the support of people and organizations.
Perspectives
This is a really satisfying paper to see published because of its extensive empirical grounding. I think does a great job of anchoring complex concepts into a real-world context.
Dr Frederik F Lesage
Simon Fraser University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Figurations of Mentorship for Cultural Work, Cultural Sociology, September 2025, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/17499755251360152.
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