Craft as resistance: A case study of three Indigenous craft traditions

Abstract

In this article, I aim to explore the role that craft has played in terms of social resistance for three native peoples: the Iku and Nasa peoples in Colombia and the Sámi people in Sweden. The methodology is based on ethnography. Interviews were performed with Indigenous makers and experts with the objective to understand Indigenous craft and social processes. Inspirations, techniques and materials involved in the Indigenous craft traditions and their relation to social resistance were studied. Social resistance of a political, ecological and cultural nature manifests itself in craft practices, in terms of materiality and implicit meaning. The article includes a brief of the analysed Indigenous communities and the rationale behind the author’s wish to learn from their craft traditions. A theoretical framework based on the concepts of social resistance and craft is also included. The article finalizes with a reflection on the role of craft in terms of social, cultural, political and ecological resistance.