Book Review: Critical Craft: Technology, Globalization, and Capitalism by Claire M. Wilkinson-Weber and Alicia Ory DeNicola (eds)

Abstract

Claire M. Wilkinson-Weber and Alicia Ory DeNicola (eds) Critical Craft: Technology, Globalization, and Capitalism, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016; 298 pp.: ISBN 9781472594853 (pbk); 9781472594860 (hbk); 9781472594877 (ePDF); 9781472594884 (ePub) I declare my bias at the outset: I am a craft scholar and a craft practitioner. I have interviewed Western craft practitioners who work in ceramics, glass, metal, textiles and wood, and written about their work and exhibitions; I have researched the craft phenomenon historically and am an advocate for the perpetuation of craft skills. As a maker, I understand the ethos and lifestyle of craft practice. And 1 am aware that since before the Industrial Revolution, craft has represented a political alternative, whether its forms are humble or sophisticated. My review and this book should be read from this sensibility. My commitment to and passion for craft, until recently, have been closeted, except when I am in 'my community. Craft was a derisible word but, over the last 5 years, I have observed that craft practice and craft patronage are experiencing a resurgence. On the one hand, DIYers have taken up craft activities for therapy (Stitch 'n Bitch knitting), economic necessity or to counteract disquietude at the proliferation of mass production's meaninglessness and waste. On the other hand, those with copious disposable income have identified one-of-a-kind objects as symbols that indicate uniqueness and seeming concern for the planet. Universities are reinstating craft programmes that were abandoned only a few years ago, while publications have proliferated on academic and general interest bookshelves. Whereas Craft Scotland inaugurated an ad campaign in 2009 entitled 'The C Word', exploiting its outre letter to bring recognition to heritage practices, the 'c' word, craft, is now evident in the art world--for example, Grayson Perry's (2003) Turner prize; Ai Weiwei's (2010), Swiflower Seeds-, Paul Cummins & Tom Piper's (2015), Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red--and Western culture. It therefore seems no coincidence that Critical Craft: Technology, Globalization, and Capitalism, a collection of essays by anthropologists, should appear at this time. Its editors state in the Introduction that their anthropological predecessors took craft for granted as an 'old' activity of societies and likely to disappear; with craft's survival, its practices were then relegated to specialist enquiry while anthropology concentrated on society and its physical surroundings, its politics, knowledge acquisition and symbolism (p. 2). From the 1980s, craft was given legitimacy by the advent of two theoretical streams: the proposition of craft's being a constitutive activity and an increase in attention to material culture. But Wilkinson-Weber and DeNicola point out that by the 21st century craft was still not central to anthropological study and, seeing this as a shortcoming due to their own work in South Asia, they initiated a call for articles. The essence of the volume is that 'craft as a discourse and a praxis help[s] people tell themselves, their communities, their connections, and their classes' (ibid.). The telling that occurs in this volume is, for the most part, informative of craft practice in non-Western countries and, for this reason, enlightening. Geoffrey Gowlland's essay on the division of labour in Taiwanese ceramics and Alana Cant's on authorship of woodcarvings in Mexico are reminders of the West's inculcated belief in the individuality of the artist. …