Craft is Political: Economic, Social and Technological Contexts

Throughout the twenty-first century, various craft practices have experienced a resurgence across the Western world. In Craft is Political, D. Wood argues that this resurgence is a direct response to and critique of the particular economic, social and technological context in which we live. Just as Ruskin and Morris viewed craft and its ethos in the 1800s as a kind of political opposition to the Industrial Revolution, Wood contends that craft activities are often today practiced either as a kind of therapy, out of economic necessity, as a rejection of mass production's waste and perceived lack of meaning or out of a desire to be unique or more sustainable. Wood also argues that craft has in general been neglected in academia, and that as such a study of the topic in light of colonialism, post-colonialism, critical race theory and globalisation is overdue. A great diversity of case studies are included, from female craft in Pakistan and craft markets in New Zealand to Taiwanese ceramics and Finnish craft education. Craft is Political brings together authors from a variety of disciplines to consider politicised craft from a range of different perspectives.