Craftivism and Crime: Craft as a Vehicle for Criminal and Social Justice Activism

Abstract

The contemporary practice of ‘craftivism’ – which uses crafts such as knitting, sewing, and embroidery to draw attention to ‘issues of social, political and environmental justice’ (Fitzpatrick, 2018, p. 3) – has its origins in centuries of radical craft work, where women and marginalised peoples in particular, employed crafts to protest, take a stand, or raise awareness on issues that concern them. This chapter explores how crafts are being used to highlight key social and criminal justice issues that are of concern to criminologists, including the missing and murdered, state and institutional violence, and sexual abuse and violence. In canvassing the ways in which craft is being used to draw attention to, document, memorialise, demand change, and heal, this chapter considers why criminologists would benefit from being attentive to the strategies craftivists are using to challenge the status quo and make visible the invisible.

Citation

McGovern, A. and Fitzpatrick, T. (2023), "Craftivism and Crime: Craft as a Vehicle for Criminal and Social Justice Activism", Canning, V., Martin, G. and Tombs, S. (Ed.) The Emerald International Handbook of Activist Criminology (Emerald Studies in Activist Criminology), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 297-309. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80262-199-020231019