"What is a brickmaker?" : an occupational folklife study of the brick industry in Chipman, New Brunswick

Abstract

This study explores the central question "What is a brickmaker?" Focusing on a group of brickmakers in Chipman, New Brunswick, I examine how the men themselves determine the perimeters of their occupation and define their work and workplace. By privileging the workers' actual words and by looking at the larger themes of their collected narratives, I identify and reveal the subgenre of recognized occupational folklife such as canons of work technique, accident, prank and close-call narratives, beliefs, legends and jokes. I consider the larger implications of brickmaking to ask: "What is a brickmaker to the village of Chipman?" I argue that meanings of the term "brickmaker" to the actual brickmakers must inform an understanding of the occupation and its implications for the workers and their community.