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Viewing report
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Common Ground Between Crafts Collectives and Conservation. Edition No. 1
VDM Publishing House, Nov 2008, Pages: 128
Crafts collectives form as a survival strategy for
artisans in remote areas of the U.S. and abroad.
Often artisans are influenced by their rural
environment, using images of and resources from
nature in their work. Some coops are situated near
protected areas with local residents as members;
others draw members from a large regional area with
no tie to a protected area. Yet in some crafts coops
in developing countries, members have incorporated a
formal environmental agenda into the coop’s by-laws.
This research explored two crafts collectives in the
U.S. to learn how craftsartists understand
conservation in this country. My inquiry focused on
the artisans’ perceptions of their work, the
collective and their community in regard to
conservation. The results showed that individual
artisans highly value, and are knowledgeable about,
their local ecology but do not take formal
environmental action as a collective. I propose a
model for integrating the ecological, economic and
sociopolitical actions of artisan members. The
implications of this research for those concerned
about crafts and ecology are significant; there is
potential for collaboration between artisans and
conservationists.
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