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Global Craftivism
Handcraft Responses to Violence, War, Illness, and Isolation
Global Craftivism
Handcraft Responses to Violence, War, Illness, and Isolation
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Description
This anthology offers a framework for understanding why people urgently turn to textile handwork as a site of repair in a world on the brink and examines how craft expression aligns with political activism in a sometimes quirky and always colorful way. In a world at a constant crossroads of despair and disruption, chapter contributors provide a clear-eyed assessment of specific craft-activism campaigns since the “Pussyhats,” focusing on the most pressing political issues of our time, as people seek to stitch a world aligned with their belief systems that is built on a DIY-ethos of hands-on community building.
The chapters explore the impact of craftivism in the late digital age, where hands-on production and creativity can serve as an antidote to the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence and a pervasive mistrust of political processes. Does craftivism serve any meaningful purpose at a time when it's been increasingly corporatized in a capitalistic system devoted to profits and divisive sloganism? Can craftivism do more than amplify political divisions and reinforce suspicions of perceived ideological enemies, or can it model a more expressive and inclusive activist platform around the globe? With contributions from among the most prominent thinkers on DIY civic engagement, Global Craftivism since the Pussyhats: Handcraft Responses to Violence, War, Illness and Isolation, gives politically expressive crafting its due as a powerful social force.
Table of Contents
PART I: Crafting and Collective Action in the Late Digital Age
Chapter 1
The Agitation (and Comfort) of Textiles in a World on the Brink:'Craftivism' Enters Maturity in its Third Decade by Hinda Mandell
Chapter 2
Digital or Digit-All: A Designer's Manifesto in the Making for Humanistic Futures through Handwork by Donna Maione
Chapter 3
Good in a Crisis: A Conversation on Craftivism's Values of Craft, Collectivity and Care by Kate Just, Alyce McGovern, and Tal Fitzpatrick
Chapter 4
Unraveling Unity: Reflections on the Dynamics of Allyship and Economics by Diane L. Ivey
Chapter 5
The Fierce Fabric of Feminism: Feminist Embroidery as a Tool Against Sexual Violence in Sweden by Elisabeth Drion, Karin Milles, and Hanna Söderlund
PART II: Craftivism as a Response to Healthcare Disparities
Chapter 6
Patients before Profits: Promoting Change in Healthcare through Craftivism by Catherine McGeehin Heilferty
Chapter 7
Stitching aCovid-19transgression:DominicCummingsatBarnardCastle(2020) byLynnSetterington
Chapter 8
Crossing Great Divides: Reckoning with COVID through Collective Threads by Heather Schulte
Chapter 9
Roe, Roe, Roe Your Vote: How To Create your Own Craftivist Protest Piece by Elizabeth Sovern
PART III: Craftivism as Civic Engagement
Chapter 10
Why Teaching 20,000 Students across Africa to Knit by 2030, is not just about Craft – but How to Learn by Elizabeth Okeyele-Olatunji
Chapter 11
The Story of the 'Violet Protest:' Deploying Socially Engaged Art with Textile Craft for Political Resistance by Ann Morton
Chapter 12
Knit Democracy Together: Combining Craft and Education by Eve Jacobs-Carnahan
PART IV: Craftivists at War, and Fighting for the Planet
Chapter 13
Speaking Out About the Longest Hatred, Antisemitism and Oct. 7, 2023 by Mirka Knaster
Chapter 14
Blossoms Not Bullets: Craftivist's Love Letter to Humanity in Response to Weaponised Games People Play by Stacey Rozen
Chapter 15
Crafting Survival: Making in Ukraine since the 2022 Russian Full-Scale Invasion by Cynthia Klima and Alla Myzelev
Chapter 16
#FramedinBelarus: Stitch It Collective and the Fight for Human Rights in Belarus by Sasha Razor
Chapter 17
Visible Mending as a Political Act by Sandra Markus
Chapter 18
Weather Wisdom and Kit Craftivism by Shirley Wajda
CONCLUSION
Chapter 19
More than a Gimmick in the Attention Economy: Looking ahead to the Tactility of Joy and Craft Action in a Brittle, Brutal World by Hinda Mandell
AFTERWORD
Afterword: The Chocolate-Craft of Activism from a Small-Business Perspective by Lindsay Tarnoff
Product details
| Published | 27 Nov 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 288 |
| ISBN | 9798881855680 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Visual Arts |
| Illustrations | 71 b/w photos |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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