Dr. Stephanie Bunn
University of St Andrews
Craft, Embodied Knowledge, and Learning Through the Hands
We learn textile skills through subtle and manipulative actions of our hands, whether sewing, weaving, embroidery or basketry, so studying textiles can only be enriched through hands-on practice of these skills. Dr. Bunn gives a brief account of her 30 years of anthropological research into textiles through practice, asking the question, “What are we learning alongside the skills themselves?” She answers this by expanding on two recent basketry projects, Woven Communities and Forces in Translation. Woven Communities uses basketry as a “way in” to understanding Scottish social history, developing into a study of basketry as therapy and rehabilitation. Forces in Translation explores the convergence between basketry hand skills and geometric and spatial cognition. Here, the possibility that hand skills provide an important and essential complement to other forms of learning is discussed.
Thursday, January 20, 12:15 pm
Via Zoom
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