An anthropology of gestures: shifting narratives about sustainability in textile crafts through the lens of metaphor theory - Ruxandra Lupu

There is almost a poetic appeal to crafts that render them timeless. Crafts such as textiles maintain continuity, in contrast to trends, like fashion. Textile practice provides thus established codes for interpreting local culture. In doing so, they inhabit their environment in a caring and conscious way. That’s why it should come as no surprise that craftspeople think differently about sustainability than designers or managers. Their practices are deeply embedded in the territory and strongly connected to aspects of place, materiality and social context. At the same time, a large part of this knowledge about sustainability is tacit – this means it can be hardly articulated using language. It is rather embedded in gestures of working with and through materials, aspects which are difficult to understand, measure and capture. So, what can we learn about sustainability from craftspeople using the lens of gestures? In my project, I take up the challenge of exploring this further by adopting metaphor theory as an entry point into better understanding and capturing textile artisans’ vision of sustainability, in order to elicit and communicate it in a comprehensive way to audiences. Conceptual metaphor theory is the field that looks at how we understand abstract concepts using metaphors. To do this, I set up an interdisciplinary method that borrows methods from linguistics, dance theory and ethnography to map metaphoric gestures of textile artisans across Europe. My field research (March-July 2024) includes case studies in my home country, Romania, but also other European countries. Expected results are both theoretical/conceptual (novel interdisciplinary framework for mapping gestures) as well as applied (a final exhibition of the textile designers’ work using collected data to present them in an immersive and comprehensible way to the public).Article by Ruxandra Lupu, illustrated by Dariana Iliehttps://theanthro.art/an-anthropology-of-gestures-shifting-narratives-about-sustainability-in-textile-crafts-through-the-lens-of-metaphor-theory/