sustain:if:able kiwi

Knitting as public theological witness: spoken presentation feedback

For the last three years, I have been interviewing people who knit for Christian projects in public spaces. To date I’ve conducted 50 interviews with knitters, coded all the transcripts and done reflexive thematic analysis of two (of the four ) knitting projects. This has resulted in around 45,000 words toward a possible book on craftivism as public Christian witness. (To keep up with the project, click follow on the Ordinary Knitters Facebook page I have set up.)

A few months ago, I proposed a paper for the Systematic Theology Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (STAANZ). I thought it would be very helpful for my research to try to summarise 45,000 words into a 2,300 word paper as a way of clarifying key ideas.

I delivered the paper today. I began with several stories of knitting to introduce how knitting connects and making empowers. I defined public theology using Elaine Graham and ambient witness using Matthew Engelke. I offered an overview of theologies of making in Christian history. I then explored one of the four knitting projects I have researched and described how the knitting of strawberries to express solidarity with victims and survivors of church abuse could be seen as an expression of public ambient theological witness. I brought the interviews into conversation with Sara Ahmed, and outlined how her work around citational practices helped me realise the importance of informal and side-by-side formation in knitting.

Participants asked a range of excellent questions. I try to take handwritten notes of the questions I get asked after a presentation. Taking notes gives me time to think about how to respond. It also means I can sit more thoroughly and more thoughtfully with the questions at later date.

Here is my recollection of the 5 questions I was asked, along with a summary of my brief responses.

1. Did the knitters you interviewed knit alone or together? Both. I interviewed people who knitted in groups and people who knitted alone. In both categories there were descriptions of a rich set of relationships, including informal, through which connections between people were being made.

2. How was Mary be utilised as a theological resource? One of my interview participants described connecting Mary with the strawberry plant, as a representation of the simultaneous generativity of runners and flowers and a symbol of “exuberant defiance.” The connections between the reproductivity of strawberries and Mary as bearer of God’s reproductive action in the world offers some fascinating way to think theologically about creation and redemption.

3. Do younger people knit? Are expressions of craft taking shape differently in different generations? There is research that indicates that younger people are still enjoying discovering knitting. Examples include Tom Daley, the British Olympic diver and Ella Emhoff hosts a knitting club. Equally, there are ways of making, for example digital activism, that are more widely present among younger generations.

4. Was there evidence in your interviews of knitting as a spiritual practice? Yes. I felt I had two groups of participants. One group tended to knit with the television on and were knitting with their attention focused elsewhere. A second group knitted and reflected during the interview that they were intentionally thinking about the person they were knitting for. The interview process helped them realise how this was a material form of prayer for others.

5. (Later in the day.) You talked about the importance in the interviews of grandmothers and mothers. Have you read Kat Armas’s Abuella Faith regarding the role of grandmothers in faith? No, but that is a very helpful suggestion.

My thanks to STAANZ for accepting my paper and for the thoughtful engagement by participants. Now back to writing.