Material Culture of Basketry

Stephanie Bunn is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews, UK. Sheconducts research through practice into Central Asian felt textiles and basketry worldwide, and collected and co-curated the first ever British Museum exhibition of Kyrgyz felt textiles. She is the author of Nomadic Felts (2010) and editor of Anthropology and Beauty (2020). Victoria Mitchell is Research Fellow at Norwich University of the Arts, UK, where she was previously Senior Lecturer in Contextual Studies and Course Leader for MA Textile Culture. She works with the theory, practice and history of textiles and basketry, with a particular interest in relationships between materials, making, metaphor and meaning.

At a time when we need, more than ever, to reconnect with each other and our environment, The Material Culture of Basketry is a reminder of how the most simple things can be so meaningful and sophisticated. This exploration of how the process of basketry has influenced our history, culture and global economy is both surprising and fascinating. It is a rich and compelling case for craft skills and material knowledge.

• AcknowledgementsList of ContributorsList of IllustrationsIntroduction, Stephanie BunnPART ONE: Materials and Processes: from plant to basket and beyond Introduction, Victoria Mitchell 1. Bird-nest Building, Susan D. Healy and Maria Cristina Tello-Ramos 2. Binding Place, Caroline Dear 3. Archaeological Basketry and Cultural Identity in Ancient Egypt, Willeke Wendrich 4. The Sustainability of English Traditional Willow Basket-making, Mary Butcher5. Drawing Out a Tune: from head to hand, Tim Johnson 6. Material Values, Lois Walpole PART TWO: Basketry as Maths, Pattern and Engineering: growth, form and structureIntroduction, Stephanie Bunn7. On the Continuities Between Craft and Mathematical Practices, Ricardo Nemirovsky8. Friction: an engineer’s perspective on weaving grass rope bridges, Ian Ewart 9. Basketry and Maths: some thoughts and practical exercises, Geraldine Jones 10. Counting, Number, Loops and Lines, Mary Crabb11. Extracts from 'Imagining the Body Politic: the knot in the Pacific imagination', Susanne Küchler 12. Secret Strings, Sabine Hyland and William Hyland13. Exploring Mathematical and Craft Literacies: learning to read and learning to make patterned baskets in Vanuatu, Lucie Hazelgrove-Planel PART THREE: Gathering Knowledge: basketry as a medium of memory, belonging and evocationIntroduction, Victoria Mitchell14. Snare and Enfold, Caroline Dear 15. Irish Woven Communities: a glimpse into the Irish indigenous basketry tradition, Joe Hogan 16. Straw Ropes and Wattle Walls: aspects of the material culture of basketry in Atlantic Scotland, Hugh Cheape17. The Primordial Basket, John Mack18. Woven Communities: from handwork to heritage in Scottish vernacular basketry, Stephanie Bunn19. Making baskets, making exhibitions: indigenous Australian baskets at the British Museum, Lissant Bolton PART FOUR: Basketry: memory, healing, and recovery Introduction, Stephanie Bunn 20. Basketry as Therapeutic Activity, Florence Cannavacciuolo 21. The Hand Memory Work of An Lanntair in the Outer Hebrides, Jon Macleod 22. Hand Memories in Net-making and Basketry with People with Dementia, Told Through Life-moment Stories and Associated Images, Paula Brown 23. Meeting Angus MacPhee, the Weaver of Grass. Interview with Joyce Laing, 2016, Stephanie Bunn 24. Making Grass Replicas Inspired by the Work of Angus MacPhee, Joanne B. Kaar25. The Legacy of World War 1 for Basket-making, Hilary Burns 26. Extracts from an Interview with Scholar and Occupational Therapist Dr Catherine Paterson, MBE. Taken from a Collaborative Film made with the University of Hertfordshire and Woven Communities Project, University of St Andrews, Stephanie Bunn 27. Basket-making as an Activity to Enhance Brain Injury Neurorehabilitation, Tim Palmer PART FIVE: Renewal and Realignment: the embodied knowledge of basketryIntroduction, Victoria Mitchell 28. Rush to Design, Felicity Irons29. Nearly Lost: learning knots, knowing knots, loving knots and passing it on, Des Pawson30. Renewing a Dying Craft: the Serfenta Association of Poland, Paulina Adamska31. The Cultural Wastepaper Basket, Ian Tait 32. Braiding and Dancing: rhythmic interlacing and patterns of interaction, Victoria Mitchell 33. Weaving Together: human robot relations of basketry and knitting, Cathrine Hasse and Pat TreuschAfterword: To Basket the World, Tim Ingold Glossary of TermsIndex