INVENTABILITY, WEAVES AND THREADS: MINAS GERAIS WEAVERS' LEARNING

Abstract

This article is a fragment of the doctoral thesis defended in 2015, entitled as Threads, Weaves, Colors, Drafts and inventability: the learning of Resende Costa, MG weavers. The research's main goal was to analyse how the pedagogic process of hand weaving is done through mountains of Minas Gerais. There, most people make their lives out of hand weaving, and the city's economy comes from craft production. To analyze these pedagogic complexities, the Latin America's knowledge was utilized, based on Popular Education and Feminist Studies. The research methodology was based on participatory research and feminist methodology, done through semi-structured interviews, participatory observation, and field journal. The empiric research resulted in a wide material: 126 pages of interviews typed in single space, 248 photos, one notebook from participatory observation, plus 32 pages of drafts. Among the results found, it was noticed that the craft production process is composed of a series of techniques and knowledge. However, as this is a knowledge mostly popular and womanly, its complexities are almost lost through the lives of the weavers, replaced by the invisible. Furthermore, this study finds out how experience and sharing make the weavers' formation richer, a pedagogy created and developed by weavers over the years. That inventability keeps the weaving tradition alive, sharing what the experienced ones know with the ones they choose to learn the weaving techniques. It's necessary to look at the women experiences and learn with them, seeing those experiences as originators of the learning process they create and (re)create.