This is the wiki homepage of the research project 'Not Just for Christmas': Consumption, Popular Culture and Religious Observance.

This project is all about how we face ethical decisions at Christmas time - about what we give, what we eat, how we celebrate, and what we celebrate - and how we turn these decisions into everyday practices. For example:

- Have you ever wondered why we buy charity Christmas cards, but not charity Birthday cards?
- Do you care how your Christmas turkey was farmed, but not about the meal you had today?
- Are you concerned about upgrade culture, new gadgets and product packaging, but only at Christmas?
- Are you concerned that the messages of Christmas are being lost, but that no-one can do more than talk about it?

It's getting easier to make ethical decisions at Christmas, with charity Christmas cards, no-gift options, Fair Trade foods, and other ways to 'opt out' of the seasonal period of overeating and over damaging. Christmas is increasingly a time when we are more likely to think about the environment because we are suddenly faced with gourmet foods and binliners full of wrapping and packaging. However, many of these decisions are not so easy to make at other times of the year, and are even less likely to be everyday decisions! But if we know that we are able to make these decisions at Christmas time, then maybe they have something to do with the 'Christmas spirit'? Maybe they can even be used to help us understand how we can make ethical choices in consumption every day...?

How Can You Get Involved?
Follow this link to see how you can get involved with this project and this wiki.


This is a Research Workshop project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the United Kingdom, and hosted by project partners The Glasgow School of Art and the University of Glasgow. The project leaders are Dr Damian Sutton (Department of Historical and Critic al Studies, GSA) and Dr Karen Wenell (Centre for Faith, Culture and Education, GU).