Building Identity through Craft Production
Cathy Lynne Costin states that "To craft is to create with a specific form, objective, or goal in mind...If we accept the notion that regular tool use made us "human," then we acknowledge that crafting makes us human." (1998. 4.)
In this way, the crochet community build identity together as they share techniques, tools, and patterns. They also encourage, teach, and learn from each other. By participating in this community they create their own identities as humans, as well as specific gains made as crochet practitioners.
Making and Remaking Identity
In the reading "Keeping Slug Woman Alive," Greg Saris says, "The individuals who make and remake the culture are complex and different; they make and remake the culture as they negotiate and mediate a range of cultural and intercultural phenomena in a variety of ways to fashion a sense of identity and self." (1993. 179.)
This statement applies to anyone working with cultural materials. Everyone who creates within a culture is remaking meaning, even if just for themselves. As a person becomes ever more proficient at their craft, they absorb more of that craft into their identity, which in turn influences their artistic endeavors and those whom they influence. Thus the cycle of making and remaking continues.
Building Community
This project was made possible through an online community, Crochet with Amigurumi Today, on Facebook. As we live through a pandemic, online communities have become important ways for people to connect to others.
Minar and Crown list four factors that make up development through participation in cultural endeavors. These factors are 1) People making contributions, 2) their crafting partners, 3) traditional tools and processes, and 4) mutual growth. (2001. 372.) This allows for online communities to provide some of the same benefits that in-person connections can bring to a craft. While it does not erase the stressors of the Covid-19 Pandemic, it can mediate some of the more severe isolation issues that come from being cut off from your communities, as well as provide the general benefits of human-to-human contact and learning.
References
Costin, Cathy Lynne. 1998. “Introduction: Craft and Social Identity”. Archaeological Papers of the American 1998. 8: 3–16. https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/ap3a.1998.8.1.3
Ho, Jeannie, and Funk, Suzanne. 2018. “Promoting Young Children’s Social and Emotional Health.” Young Children 73, No 1 (March). https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2018/promoting-social-and-emotional-health
Marks, Ruthie. 1997. History of Crochet. Originally published in "Chain Links" beginning in September 1997. https://www.crochet.org/page/CrochetHistory.
Minar, C. Jill, and Patricia L. Crown. 2001. “Learning and Craft Production: An Introduction.” Journal of Anthropological Research 57, no. 4 (2001): 369–80. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3631351.
Sarris, Greg. 1993. Keeping Slug Woman Alive: A Holistic approach to American Indian Texts. Berkeley: University of California Press. Chapter 8.
Sims, Martha C., and Stephens, Martine. 2011. Living Folklore: An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.