Abstract The dissertation “I knit, therefore I am!” Learning and identity in informal space has two main purposes. The first purpose being an investigation of how new value attributions and thinking can generate novel and usable knowledge to the field of craftsmanship, and the second purpose being a display of a different and overlooked philosophical and cultural potential in a reflexive mode of expression, which is able to reflect the normative comprehension of craftsmanship. The dissertation focuses on learning and identity in informal spaces of learning and how it is possible to relate such a learning perspective to crafts training in educational establishments. The empirical foundation of this dissertation is ‘craftivism’, in Danish known as `håndværksaktivisme`. In the dissertation activists from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark have been interviewed about what they do when they put up their textile graffiti on lamp posts and house walls. Three research problems are presented: 1) What stories do people who work as crafts activists, tell about ways of relating and methods of action when they make crafts?, 2) What do these stories tell about learning and identity?, 3) How may the research results influence training and education in craftsmanship? These questions are being asked in order to acquire new knowledge in three aspects; first aspect being knowledge about crafts in relation to techniques, tradition and the objects in crafts; the artefacts, and the second aspect being knowledge about learning and identity in informal spaces of learning, and the third aspect being knowledge about crafts’ importance to people. The dissertation’s theoretical foundation is post structural and sociocultural combined with hermeneutical-inspired qualitative interviews. The author’s position and pre-understanding is subject to discussion in relation to the informant; the performing activist, as the background for both of them is craftsmanship. Starting from cultural studies, it is possible to see the activist subject’s conditions of possibilities in the culture, as the activism of the sub-cultural phenomenon’s craft lights up through a performing approach to the individual’s actions. The interviews have been done by using gatekeepers and the interview material has been made anonymous. As auxiliary material for the interviews the informants’ documentations in social media are used. The results of the analysis show the activist subject’s construction of an individual who actively takes part in a community by e.g. creating joy, changing the world’s perception of sustainability or by feminizing the public space. The results also show that events are perceived as unexpected and being out of place (Ardener, 1989; Brinkmann & Tanggaard, 2010, pp. 55ff). The unexpected is reflected in the notion that the dominating (trained crafts in educational establishments), cultural models and discourses in the culture are able to surprise and give food for thought to subjects, who are of different opinions thus touching upon the concept of different identities. The results show that the goal of activism is to spread different messages which are closely related to the surprise and experience which the receiver feels. The activist method has a tradition of meeting. By taking crafts over the borders (and away from the class room) crafts become contextualized in a novel fashion thus obtaining an independent status. Here the results show that the activist positions the activist self in society as an individual with a message, which is rich in contents and meaning to both fellow citizens and the activist self. In this fashion the dissertation writes itself into a new method of comprehending and performing traditional craftsmanship techniques. Key words: informal learning, identity, craftivism, interdisciplinary, citizenship and community, slöjd.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 07:10:08 +0000