Spindle, Shuttle, Needle
Abstract
This thesis explores the passing of traditions and of gender roles within the generations of a family. Through the exploration of domestic work and traditional gender roles, the poems attempt to define and redefine the position of the self, of a woman, within a family. In examining the passing of traditions, this work also considers the types of knowledge women pass and how it is passed through the use of documentation, orality, and, as is often true in families, in the silences. The dialogue between generations of women about the choices one must make is often strained, and rarely communicated honestly. Through conversations of sewing, quilting, cooking, and child-bearing, this thesis attempts to uncover what it means to take on “traditional women’s work” in an era of choice.
Description
Keywords
Poetry, Ethnopoetic, Women's work, Cross-genre, Family traditions, Domesticity