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The Material Culture of Basketry Stephanie Bunn (University of St Andrews, UK)

The Material Culture of Basketry By Stephanie Bunn (University of St Andrews, UK)

The Material Culture of Basketry by Stephanie Bunn (University of St Andrews, UK)


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The Material Culture of Basketry Summary

The Material Culture of Basketry: Practice, Skill and Embodied Knowledge by Stephanie Bunn (University of St Andrews, UK)

This book celebrates basketry as a culturally significant skilled practice and as a theoretically rich discipline which has much to offer contemporary society. While sometimes understudied and underappreciated, it has much in common with mathematics and engineering, art, craft and design, and can also act as a socially beneficial source of skill and care. Contributors show how local knowledge of materials, plants and place are central to the craft. Case studies include the skill in weaverbird nest building (challenging how we perceive learning in craft and nature), an engineer’s perspective on twining Peruvian grass bridges, and the local knowledge embodied in Pacific plaited patterns and knots. Photo-essays explore materials and techniques from the point of view of artists, anthropologists and mathematicians, revealing how the structure and skill in basketwork illustrate a significant form of textile technology. Thus, the book demonstrates that the textures, patterns and geometric forms that emerge through basketwork reflect an embodied knowledge which expresses mathematical and engineering comprehension. The therapeutic value of the craft is recognised through a selection of case studies which consider basketry as a healing process for patients with brain injury, mental health problems, and as a memory aid for people living with dementia. This reclaims basketry’s significant role in occupational therapy as an agent of recovery and well–being. Basketry's inherently sustainable nature is also considered, demonstrating the continuation of basketry in spite of handwork’s general decline and profiling new and recycled materials. Above all, the book envisages basketry as an intellectually rewarding means of knowing. It presents the craft as embodying care for skilled making and for the social and natural environments in which it flourishes.

The Material Culture of Basketry Reviews

At a time when we need, more than ever, to reconnect with each other and our environment, The Material Culture of Basketry is a reminder of how the most simple things can be so meaningful and sophisticated. This exploration of how the process of basketry has influenced our history, culture and global economy is both surprising and fascinating. It is a rich and compelling case for craft skills and material knowledge. -- Rosy Greenlees, Crafts Council, UK
The Material Culture of Basketry is a tour de force. The spotlight is on baskets and basket making, but the chapters in this collection are about far more. Taking a boldly interdisciplinary approach, objects and artisanal practices become effective means for authors to probe a vast range of anthropological concerns, including cultural meaning; sociality, well-being and recovery; embodied skill, situated problem solving and the intelligent hand; ecology and place-making; human origins, history and development; and techniques of making that we share with fellow species. The significance of this book is far reaching and will surely be on interest to scholars and craftspeople alike. -- Trevor H J Marchand, SOAS University of London, UK
Baskets stand for a fast vanishing connective world. No robot can make a basket. A retired consultant pathologist discusses making basket with brain injury patients in a remarkable interdisciplinary collection is written by diverse contributors - basket makers, mathematicians, ethnographers, and archaeologists. Baskets - threatened by plastic containers of all kinds, their materials harder to access, their rhythmic, complex patterns growing unfamiliar - have much to teach us. The process of making baskets throws light on embodied knowledge, changing global economies and the subtle interactions between humans and plant materials. They are not simply evidence of technique, being also records of social relations. This visionary and sustaining book should be read by anyone concerned for the future of this planet. -- Tanya Harrod, Founder Editor of the Journal of Modern Craft, UK

About Stephanie Bunn (University of St Andrews, UK)

Stephanie Bunn is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews, UK. She conducts research through practice into Central Asian felt textiles and basketry worldwide, and collected and co-curated the first ever British Museum exhibition of Kyrgyz felt textiles. She is the author of Nomadic Felts (2010) and editor of Anthropology and Beauty (2020). Victoria Mitchell is Research Fellow at Norwich University of the Arts, UK, where she was previously Senior Lecturer in Contextual Studies and Course Leader for MA Textile Culture. She works with the theory, practice and history of textiles and basketry, with a particular interest in relationships between materials, making, metaphor and meaning.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements List of Contributors List of Illustrations Introduction, Stephanie Bunn PART ONE: Materials and Processes: from plant to basket and beyond Introduction, Victoria Mitchell 1. Bird-nest Building, Susan D. Healy and Maria Cristina Tello-Ramos 2. Binding Place, Caroline Dear 3. Archaeological Basketry and Cultural Identity in Ancient Egypt, Willeke Wendrich 4. The Sustainability of English Traditional Willow Basket-making, Mary Butcher 5. Drawing Out a Tune: from head to hand, Tim Johnson 6. Material Values, Lois Walpole PART TWO: Basketry as Maths, Pattern and Engineering: growth, form and structure Introduction, Stephanie Bunn 7. On the Continuities Between Craft and Mathematical Practices, Ricardo Nemirovsky 8. Friction: an engineer’s perspective on weaving grass rope bridges, Ian Ewart 9. Basketry and Maths: some thoughts and practical exercises, Geraldine Jones 10. Counting, Number, Loops and Lines, Mary Crabb 11. Extracts from 'Imagining the Body Politic: the knot in the Pacific imagination', Susanne Küchler 12. Secret Strings, Sabine Hyland and William Hyland 13. Exploring Mathematical and Craft Literacies: learning to read and learning to make patterned baskets in Vanuatu, Lucie Hazelgrove-Planel PART THREE: Gathering Knowledge: basketry as a medium of memory, belonging and evocation Introduction, Victoria Mitchell 14. Snare and Enfold, Caroline Dear 15. Irish Woven Communities: a glimpse into the Irish indigenous basketry tradition, Joe Hogan 16. Straw Ropes and Wattle Walls: aspects of the material culture of basketry in Atlantic Scotland, Hugh Cheape 17. The Primordial Basket, John Mack 18. Woven Communities: from handwork to heritage in Scottish vernacular basketry, Stephanie Bunn 19. Making baskets, making exhibitions: indigenous Australian baskets at the British Museum, Lissant Bolton PART FOUR: Basketry: memory, healing, and recovery Introduction, Stephanie Bunn 20. Basketry as Therapeutic Activity, Florence Cannavacciuolo 21. The Hand Memory Work of An Lanntair in the Outer Hebrides, Jon Macleod 22. Hand Memories in Net-making and Basketry with People with Dementia, Told Through Life-moment Stories and Associated Images, Paula Brown 23. Meeting Angus MacPhee, the Weaver of Grass. Interview with Joyce Laing, 2016, Stephanie Bunn 24. Making Grass Replicas Inspired by the Work of Angus MacPhee, Joanne B. Kaar 25. The Legacy of World War 1 for Basket-making, Hilary Burns 26. Extracts from an Interview with Scholar and Occupational Therapist Dr Catherine Paterson, MBE. Taken from a Collaborative Film made with the University of Hertfordshire and Woven Communities Project, University of St Andrews, Stephanie Bunn 27. Basket-making as an Activity to Enhance Brain Injury Neurorehabilitation, Tim Palmer PART FIVE: Renewal and Realignment: the embodied knowledge of basketry Introduction, Victoria Mitchell 28. Rush to Design, Felicity Irons 29. Nearly Lost: learning knots, knowing knots, loving knots and passing it on, Des Pawson 30. Renewing a Dying Craft: the Serfenta Association of Poland, Paulina Adamska 31. The Cultural Wastepaper Basket, Ian Tait 32. Braiding and Dancing: rhythmic interlacing and patterns of interaction, Victoria Mitchell 33. Weaving Together: human robot relations of basketry and knitting, Cathrine Hasse and Pat Treusch Afterword: To Basket the World, Tim Ingold Glossary of Terms Index

Additional information

NPB9781350359901
9781350359901
1350359904
The Material Culture of Basketry: Practice, Skill and Embodied Knowledge by Stephanie Bunn (University of St Andrews, UK)
New
Paperback
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
2023-05-18
312
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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