Weaving Knowledge
Call for Applications - Deadline 1 December 2016
This two week workshop aims to engage both the theory and practice of craft knowledge by teaching participants the Lanna techniques of weaving alongside expert weavers, at the same time engaging with the scholarly challenge of making embodied craft knowledge explicit. As the students are trained in crafts by practitioners in a weaving workshop near Chiang Mai, they will discuss concepts such as tacit expertise and technological literacy, pedagogy in sensory and material knowledge, innovation and sustainability in traditional technological cultures, with the practitioners, as well as invited scholars and activists in history, anthropology, and sociology from around the world. Set in the rural environment around Chiang Mai, this workshop will bring together three conveners: one historian of science and technology, one weaving/craft expert, and one scholar of development practice in craft, to guide the group of doctoral candidates in reflexive practice – both of weaving and writing.
We will accept up to 10 PhD students, whose scholarly work relates to these issues, who will learn Lanna techniques of weaving in a workshop near Chiang Mai while living in a basic setting near the workshop. Activities include daily weaving practice, pre-loom preparation, dyeing, field trips to Wat Pah Daed, Yang Luang, Karen and Lua communities to observe their weaving practice, to village co-operatives, local markets and private textile museums, as well as academic sessions.
By requiring that students engage in learning weaving and dyeing, not as observers but as participants, and by re-instating craftspeople as experts and teachers, not just of the craft, but also in mobilizing knowledge about it, the workshop seeks both to invert the social and political hierarchy of knowledge that positions scholarly knowledge over craft, and to explore what craft knowledge can bring to academia, and to the larger societal challenge of sustainable development. It will require sometimes strenuous physical labor as well as reflexive scholarly engagement by students. It will require that students assume the role of apprentices as well as problem solvers and storytellers who, for example, use metaphors to capture how things look, sound or smell. Focusing on these two different modes of thinking about and making knowledge -- the practice of weaving and scholarly work – will afford new possibilities to understand the nature of embodied knowledge.
We welcome applications from PhD students whose research deals with the themes of the Summer Workshop. No previous experience of weaving is required.
The registration fee for participation at the Weaving Knowledge Summer Workshop is € 150. For more information on what is included in this fee, please see General Information.
(Partial) travel grants are available for selected participants.
General Information
For whom
The Weaving Knowledge Summer Workshop on Lanna Weaving and Dyeing is intended for PhD students whose research deals with the themes of the Summer Workshop. All applicants must be committed to or actively working on original projects that engage with the Summer Workshop themes.
Application
To apply for participation in the Summer Workshop 2017, please complete the online Application form. The application deadline is 1 December 2016.
Selection procedure
The programme allows a maximum of ten participants. All who apply by the deadline will be informed about the selection results before 15 February 2017. Please note that we will be unable to provide feedback and comments to those applicants not selected for participation.
Participation requirements
Selected participants agree to attend and participate in all events from 6-23 July 2017, including practical exercises, lectures, group discussions and fieldtrips. Participants also agree to read pre-circulated background materials as generated by the convenors.
Language requirements
A working language of English is required.
Registration fee
All participants must pay the following registration fee: € 150.
Accommodation
Accommodation for 18 nights (arrival 5 July, departure 23 July) is included for the selected participants.
Travel costs
Selected participants may be considered for a (partial) travel grant. For more information please see Financial Support.
Payment
After you have received the confirmation of your participation, you will receive further information about the payment of the registration fee (due mid-April 2017). You can pay with credit card (Master or Visa) or via bank transfer.
Cancellation policy
Participation in the Summer Workshop can be cancelled free of charge until 60 days before the start. If cancellation occurs within 60 days prior to the start of the programme, the fee will not be refunded.
Weaving Knowledge - Financial Support
All participants will receive accommodations for 18 nights, lunch during the event, two group dinners per week, and local transport (as necessary) between the accommodation, Summer Workshop studio, and all fieldtrip sites.
In addition, the organizers will offer a number of (partial) scholarships to highly qualified candidates. A scholarship consists of a travel grant, which covers (partial) travel expenses.
Recipients will be selected with consideration to financial need and demonstrated motivation for participating in the Summer Workshop.
How to apply for a scholarship
Before submitting the scholarship application, please complete the online application form. Without a completed application form on file, we cannot process your scholarship application.
Prospective candidates for a scholarship are required to submit the following required additional documents by 1 December 2016 to Ms Martina van den Haak (seminar coordinator IIAS) via email at: m.c.van.den.haak@iias.nl.
The scholarship application should include the following documents:
Statement of Purpose (approximately one page, may be single-spaced)
Please explain why the Summer Workshop 2017 in Chiang Mai would be important to your academic studies or career and why you feel you deserve a scholarship. Please also outline the reasons why you need a scholarship to cover the (partial) travel expenses.
A recommendation letter from a teacher or professor
The recommendation letter should be sent by email and should be from someone familiar with your recent research, and preferably someone familiar with your research as related to the Summer Workshop themes. The letter must include the referee’s contact information.
Date
6 July 2017 to 23 July 2017
Venue
BAN RAI JAI SOOK (JAI-SOOK STUDIO)
Chiang Mai
Thailand
Google Maps
Academic directors
Nussara Tiengkate, Pamela H. Smith, Annapurna Mamidipudi
Organisers
Sponsored by the Center for Science and Society, Columbia University; Chiang Mai University; International Institute for Asian Studies; the Dorothy Borg Research Program, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Contact
For questions related to the Summer Workshop 2017, please contact Ms. Martina van den Haak at m.c.van.den.haak@iias.nl
To APPLY click "Further official information" below and fill the application form.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://iias.asia/masterclass/weaving-knowledge