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The following is excerpted from the Worn Through review on Women’s Work, Women’s Art by Judy Thompson.
Women’s Work, Women’s Art is the most recent volume on Athapaskan clothing by former museum curator Judy Thompson, focusing on nineteenth-century outfits, accessories, and the concomitant social and cultural practices. As a material culture study, the beauty and utility of each object is celebrated and the book falls somewhere between a coffee-table tome and an exhibition catalogue; this approach may be more attractive to the layperson than the many anthropological texts written on the subject of Athapaskan clothing traditions. Ripe with museum-quality photographs reinforced by more than forty years of research and experience, this book inspires appreciation of the unique and diverse styles of native cultures.
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Thompson reveals her own background in the foreword to Women’s Work, noting that her interest in nineteenth-century Athapaskan clothing was sparked by a mystery garment in museum collections and that she made it a priority to learn traditional sewing techniques from elders and other members of various Athapaskan groups. The material cultural focus of her clothing history books springs from the conviction that “[garments] embody very specific information about clothing materials, garment designs, and sewing and decorative art techniques – information that is recorded nowhere else.”
In Women’s Work, she organizes her research around a gender-role perspective to approach a meaningful history of Athapaskan clothing and accessories. Much of the labor that went into making traditional Athapaskan clothing was done by women. From the rough physical effort of tanning hides to the fine detailing of quillwork, Athapaskan women were versatile artisans with both the protective responsibility of keeping family members warm and safe in a harsh climate, as well as the cultural responsibility of perpetuating the delicate, decorative practices of their forebears.
Click here for the full review
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