MA Anthropological Research Methods Full Time 1 Year followed by MPhil/PHD

Project Title: Weaving memories: textile, kinship, and the senses in the Georgia-Azerbaijan borderland

This project is about textiles and weaving in an Azeri minority community in Georgia. In the past, throughout the Caucasus Mountains nearly every woman wove rugs. Each generation ensured that practices and skills required for weaving and producing textiles were passed on to the next generation. However, many have stopped weaving after the introduction of cheap, machine-made rugs and textiles.

Despite the drop in the numbers of women weaving in the region, some women continue the weaving traditions. Each textile narrates multiple complex stories. The textiles narrate stories about kinship, about borders and most importantly about movement of goods and people in the region. This research is concerned with these narratives. My aim is to observe why and how some women continue weaving and understand the significance of this in relation to macro issues in the region. The research seeks to understand the way these textiles negotiate relationships between weavers and their families and communities. Furthermore, learning to weave is more than simply producing textiles. It involves learning about the environment, culture, and how one makes sense of life. The weaving practices, the relationships that are produced and/or maintained, and memories passed on from one generation to another offer an alternative way of learning about life with all its complexities.

I plan to undertake overseas fieldwork during my period of ESRC funding. Participant observation will be my main research method. After successfully completing my MA Anthropological Research methods programme and successfully upgrading into a PhD from MPhil, I will conduct a minimum of one year's fieldwork in Georgia with the Azeri minority community. In addition to this, I will also apply for Difficult Language Training due to lack of resources to learn Azerbaijani language in UK and even in Azerbaijan and Georgia. The language training and one-year fieldwork will allow me to immerse myself in the lives of the weavers and build rapport with my interlocutors. Moreover, this will involve long-term participant observation and extensive interviews with the women themselves as well as other important individuals involved in the production, sale and consumption of rugs from the region. After fieldwork I will have two years to write and complete my research.