From embodied memory to know-how/making of: the lace weaves of Saubara (Bahia)

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on how the body and memory engage and culminate in artisanal know-how, with a particular focus on bobbin lace-making in Saubara, Bahia. It presents a theoretical discussion anchored in a real-world example to emphasize the manual dexterity inherent in the creation process, highlighting the dimension of sensibility in this activity through the activation of memory by the body. We recognize that cultural practices, shaped and maintained by collective memory, play a crucial role in constructing community identity, serving both as an anchor that preserves knowledge and memory related to bobbin lace-making and as a foundation for developing each lacemaker’s individual know-how. The hands, endowed with unique dexterity, emerge as the very essence of this body, fully manifesting themselves in the act of lace-making through embodied experience and interaction with the surrounding world. For this reflection, we employ a conceptual framework ranging from Merleau-Ponty’s (1994) phenomenology of the body, and the sociological perspectives of Mauss (2003) and Le Breton (2007), to studies on memory, culture, and lace-making, including Pollak (1989) and Fechine (2013), as well as socio-historical investigations and surveys on lace such as those by Ramos and Ramos (1948), Girão (1984), and Felippi (2021). This research contributes to academic reflections on artisanal practices by presenting a phenomenological approach that articulates studies of the body and memory.