Thesis Origins

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     After making a lot of quilts and spending time with a lot of quiltmakers in different scenarios, I found myself watching the women more than what was coming out the other side of the machine. I was intrigued by their emotional approaches to making quilts (women's studies). I was interested in what felt like to me a definite increase in people joining quiltmaking at often younger ages (quilt history). I noticed patterns of people following quilt industry celebrities in person and online (fandom/fan studies). I wanted to know more.

     I took a three-year deep dive at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I discovered that what I was interested in is cultural anthropology. And that I wanted to study how women use quilts to negotiate feminine leisure time in their everyday, heavily tech-friendly lives. This is actually called material culture, and it applies to the study of any everyday object we use, not just those made of fabric. I uncovered a treasure trove of brilliant people who have done important work in quilt history, museum studies, sociology, anthropology, feminism, fan studies, philosophy, aesthetics, and more. But there was a big gap in bringing all of these together to investigate quiltmaking today. And I had heard about none of this in the hobbyist end of the quilt pool.

     Since one cannot cram fifteen years worth of questions and scholarship into one Master's thesis,and believe me I've tried, I chose to focus on a study of QuiltCon. QuiltCon is an annual convention for people who identify as Modern quiltmakers. Over four days, one can attend classes and lectures,

shop the vendor mall, and view a large quilt show. Studying the phenomenon of a group of people in their event or experience is ethnographic research.

Thus my thesis, titled These Are My People, is the first ethnography of QuiltCon, let alone any quilt show or convention. What follows is my abstract, the brief introduction to my study. I hope you enjoy reading about twenty-first century quiltmaking, but most of all, I hope to contribute to the value and meaning of what it is to be someone making today. Because what we are doing is important. Download here.

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These Are My People: An Ethnography of QuiltCon

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Abstract

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     This thesis presents the first ethnography of QuiltCon, the annual fan and artist convention for quiltmakers who identify with and participate in a social phenomenon called the Modern Quilt Movement (MQM) within the 21st century quilt world. QuiltCon (QC) is one product of this movement. This study considers the following questions: What kinds of people attend QC, and what types of experiences and encounters do they expect at the convention? What needs are met at QC for this subset of quiltmakers who attend and for the greater community of Modern quiltmakers? What role does QC play in cementing the identity and core values of Modern quiltmakers and the MQM?

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    This cultural description provides a snapshot of the MQM and QC through the eyes of a long-time quilt group whose members identify as Modern quilters, traveling from another state to attend QC 2020 in Austin, Texas, USA. As a member of this group, I am a practicing Modern quiltmaker or cultural “insider,” both observing and experiencing the convention as a fan. In fan studies, this hybrid status is referred to as an “acafan”: An academic researcher studying the phenomenon of which she is a part. This social scientific and anthropological study utilizes qualitative research methods, with an arts-based, constructivist/interpretivist epistemology within the critical framework of quilt history, women’s studies and fan studies.

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     QC 2020 attendees participated in an in-person fan pilgrimage as a physical manifestation of an online community, which included demonstrations of communitas, permission and validation, as well as several examples of celebrity interaction. QuiltCon as a girlfriend getaway included feminist actions through self-labeling, play, the politics of display, and the consumer business of Modern quiltmaking. Results include a discussion of QC’s evolution to an iconic, peak experience for enacting and reflecting the ethos of the MQM (defined as a person, a style, the approach, and the community), particularly for those who attend, irrespective of tension-filled and/or perceived cultural definitions by which Modern quiltmaking practice is or has been defined.

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Keywords:  communitas, ethnography, fan studies, Modern quiltmaking, pilgrimage, women’s studies

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