Feminist Work – Jacqueline Wallace
Jacqueline Wallace
PhD Candidate (ABD)
Joint Doctoral Program in Communication
Concordia University, Montreal
I am working on my dissertation currently titled Women’s Creative Labour: DIY Networks and the Indie Crafts Movement. My research focuses on diy design and craft as a cultural economy and a significant site of women’s creative labour. It includes a primary case study of Etsy (www.etsy.com) as well as interviews with the designers, makers and community that are part of the indie craft scene in Canada and the US. Specifically, the research program proposes to examine the new indie crafts movement as a cultural economy—of women’s cultural production, informal networks and entrepreneurship—a highly contemporary cultural and economic phenomenon buoyed by the rise of the so-called creative class, a do-it-yourself ethic and a broader conception of craftwork as ‘Handmade 2.0’, implying an intersection with digital media, new technologies and networked communications. It incorporates feminist theory, critique and analysis toward postulating a ‘feminist cultural economy’ of indie crafts.
A more detailed prospectus is available here.
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Your research sounds very interesting! Your are approaching the topic of DIY from an original perspective. I haven’t seen much work being conducted in this area from a cultural economy perspective. I look forward to hearing more about your work.