“Lace as the bread of the people” : gender and power through craft revitalization in Malta and Gozo

Abstract

This article examines the multidimensional nature of the Maltese identity through life trajectories surrounding the traditional art form of lace making on Malta and Gozo. It is based on four weeks of field work in Gozo, Malta in June of 2015 with Expedition’s Off The Beaten Track summer fieldschool. This research is shaped by questions of heritage, gender power, and female agency, looking into issues such as how traditional lacemaking culture reflects Maltese identity, the space lacemaking women took in traditional economy and what this space has become today, how the craft has been revitalized and reclaimed, and what major forces are part of modern reclamation of the craft. The rich history of Malta’s lacemaking tradition is used as the guiding force in unraveling the tradition’s and the lace workers’ storylines, intertwining traditional heritage with the present to examine the space it holds as well as coming to understand the space women have taken in Maltese society across time. This article takes from a variety of disciplines, such as cultural anthropology, heritage studies, gender theory, and women’s studies, to examine the tradition’s place in the urbanizing world of Malta’s archipelago and what this means for the crafters.