What am I discover:
By making these two system maps, I gained more organized thought about quilting. Especially when I made the iceberg map, I keep asking myself “why” question so that I could think deeper about the reason that women who are in poor family do quilting. The system map could also help me to think about something that I overlooked and help me to explore more details of my guide project. For example, except considering why women doing quilting, men also have their reasons of doing quilting in some cases. I need to do more research on that one.
I am struck by the way quilting is gendered and the value placed on male quilters (i.e. their quilts are art). Why do you think this is? What other activities with domestic ties does this gendering exist in?
The inclusion of the Gee’s Bend quilters introduces the social-economic and related motivations/needs. I suggest also looking into other forms of African American quilting that embrace narrative/story-telling as a way of self-authorship and recording history. I am curious if storytelling is part of the quilt research in your specific vein.