From medieval romances to twenty-first century novels, textile arts and food production are a medium through which otherwise marginalized female voices find expression, and this project examines the varied means by which women in patriarchal societies enact agency through their reproductive labor, particularly the ways in which women’s reproductive labor works to create and maintain community.  In March of 2018, I presented a portion of this project, “Writing Our Stories with Hooks and Needles: Literary Women’s Voices in Textiles,” at Creative Bodies, Creative Minds, an interdisciplinary conference hosted by the University of Graz. The scholarly interest that inspires this project is further informed by my own engagement in writing, textile arts, and food production, and my experience of these as creative acts that allow me to participate in shaping my own communities.

This research project is in its nascent stage. The timeline below serves as a data collection point for examples of narrative textiles, both historical artifacts and textiles represented in literature, created by women.

(external link to the timeline)