This book explores the use of handmade crafts as a vehicle for protest. Craftivism has experienced a resurgence in recent years, often in direct response to the social, environment and political concerns of those who engage in the practice. Acts of craftivism raise important questions for criminologists about the use of public space, power, and resistance. McGovern focuses on an example of the craftivist movement that has been steadily gaining momentum since the early to mid-2000s: yarn bombing. As an urban craft movement that melds the skills of knitting or crochet with the act of graffiti, yarn bombing has the potential to contribute to criminological understandings of graffiti and street art, particularly on issues of gender, perceptions of and motivations for graffiti, and the commodification of crime. Drawing on interviews with yarn bombers and craftivists,Craftivism and Yarn Bombing explores how such acts can be understood and explored through a criminological lens,and will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including criminology, sociology, cultural studies, gender studies, and urban studies. 

Alyce McGovern is Associate Professor in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia. 

TABLE OF FIGURESINTRODUCTIONTHE RESEARCH PROJECT AND ITS AIMSYarn bombing and craftivismCHAPTER OVERVIEWUNRAVELLING THE THREADS: CONTEMPORARY CRAFTIVISM AND ITS ORIGINSTHE ORIGINS OF CRAFTIVISMWar craftivismAnti-colonial and anti-slavery craftivismEconomic and anti-capitalist craftivismEnvironmental and eco-craftivismHealth craftivismSocial justice craftivismGendered violence and bodily autonomy craftivismTHE LOGICS OF CRAFTIVISMTHE ITCH TO STITCH: YARN BOMBERS AND THEIR MOTIVATIONS58DEFINING YARN BOMBINGTHE ORIGINS OF YARN BOMBINGControversies and criticismsUNDERSTANDING YARN BOMBERS AND THEIR MOTIVATIONSMaking people smile, generating joy, and beautificationReclaiming and softening of public space, rejecting commercialisation, and building communitiesRaising awareness, memorialisation, and promoting communitiesMaking a statement, protest and championing changeCRAFT ATTACK: THE FRAMING OF YARN BOMBINGCRIME, CRIMINALITY AND LEGAL FRAMING OF YARN BOMBINGFraming yarn bombers: Destructive criminals or harmless knitters?HOW YARN BOMBERS FRAME THEIR PRACTICEDeviance, risk and subversionThrill-seeking, edgework and the carnival of crimeCRAFTY CRIMES: THE CRIMINOLOGY OF CRAFTIVISMRESEARCH FINDINGSREFERENCE LIST