Makers, Crafters, Educators: Working for Cultural Change

by Elizabeth Garber (Editor), Lisa Hochtritt (Editor), Manisha Sharma (Editor)

Makers, Crafters, Educators brings the do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos of maker and crafter movements into educational environments, and examines the politics of cultural change that undergird them. Addressing making and crafting in relation to community and schooling practices, culture, and place, this edited collection positions making as an agent of change in education. In the volume’s five sections—Play and Hacking, Access and Equity, Interdependence and Interdisciplinarity, Cultural and Environmental Sustainability, and Labor and Leisure—authors from around the world present a collage of issues and practices connecting object making, participatory culture, and socio-cultural transformation. Offering gateways into cultural practices from six continents, this volume explores the participatory culture of maker and crafter spaces in education and reveals how community sites hold the promise of such socio-cultural transformation.

Review
"Through stories of contemporary makers throughout the world, art teachers and community artist educators will be inspired to develop their own uniquely situated spaces of making―individually and collaboratively―in the interstices between current practices. Eschewing dichotomies and filled with unexpected juxtapositions of histories, theories, and philosophies with new and ancient making practices, the book provides seemingly endless possible combinations of spinning and shaping new, deeply engaging discourses of thought and hand."

―Olivia Gude, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA

"This book offers a delightful array of research, ideas, and tools for thinking about creative practice around the world. Across diverse chapters, with a commendable emphasis on equity and inclusion, the authors show how the integration of making, crafting and learning is vital for building a better world."

―David Gauntlett, Ryerson University, Canada

"Makers, Crafters, and Educators is an insightful, diverse collection of essays highlighting the cultural and artistic practices of making. This book represents a truly diverse group of contexts that effectively showcase how making creates and is created by social, cultural, and historical communities. Written primarily as firsthand accounts, these essays take the reader into the world of craft practices and makerspaces like no other volume on this topic."

―Erica Halverson, University of Wisconsin, USA

About the Author
Elizabeth Garber is Professor Emeritx of Art at the University of Arizona, USA.

Lisa Hochtritt is Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), USA.

Manisha Sharma is an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Arizona, USA