Fabricating herstory: Using embroidery to map Bedouin tribal borders in South Sinai

Abstract

Research into Bedouin culture by predominantly male scholars has tended to rely on analysing nineteenth-century traveller accounts, Cartesian maps and documenting oral histories. Much less attention has been paid to the role of Bedouin women’s handicrafts as a form of mapping and cultural knowledge production. In this article I reflect on the impact of commissioning an embroidered map of the Sinai during a British Academy/Leverhulme funded research project on Bedouin tribal borders and consider how collaborative engagements with traditional women’s handicrafts can be used as a form of artistic research practice, historical analysis and community mapping.