Heather Prishtash, professor of English at Western Wyoming Community College, gives a presentation entitled "A Handmade Response to Sweatshops: Craftivism, Protest, and Critique of Consumer Culture." She discusses the history of the term craftivism and ties it to the idea of rhetorical needlework, defining both ideas before positioning both as important feminist tools in the material culture. Pristash looks at recent and historical examples of rhetorical needlework, pointing out the elements that make it rhetorical as well as the ways in which these materials were used as activism, focusing on "Wool against weapons," a project connecting two towns in England housing nuclear weapons with a single, continuous wool scarf to protest the Trident missile program. Pristash also explores the Nike Blanket Petition, organized by Cat Mazza, as an example of large scale public art and contrasts it with mini-banners created by the Craftivist Collective. Part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series sponsored by the Michigan State University School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, and the MSU Museum. Held in the MSU Museum Auditorium.
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