Duquesne grad student studies intersection of 'craft, church and a life of faith' in Appalachia

When Gwendolen Jackson was growing up in Bridgeport, Ohio, across the river from Wheeling, W.Va., along the northwestern edge of Appalachia, it seemed like everyone she knew did some sort of crafting.

She also grew up in a churchgoing family, and that seemed to go hand in hand with crafting.

Today, Jackson, 39, lives in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood. She is pursuing a doctorate at Duquesne University, and her dissertation will focus on the intersection of craft, church and a life of faith in Appalachia.

“Everyone I know from the area does some sort of crafting,” she said. “My dad’s a woodworker, my mom sews, and I started to think about that as a way Appalachian people kind of practice their faith.”

From baby blankets to little keepsakes, handmade crafts can be found at church sales and craft festivals all across Southwestern Pennsylvania. Jackson said it isn’t nearly as prevalent in other places she has lived.

Her research is centered on why the making and giving of handmade items is so common in Appalachia, in general, and in church life specifically.

“If you go to a wedding or baby shower, there’s going to be a lot of handmade gifts because that’s kind of how you express your love within the community,” Jackson said. “So I just started to think about those connections between craft and the church.”

As she starts her qualitative research, Jackson is seeking Appalachian natives who identify as Christians and who are interested in sitting for an interview that covers questions about where they went to church, their thoughts on the Bible, what crafts they practice and what insights they impart about life, faith and God.

“One of the things that seems to come out is that store-bought items just don’t really carry the same sense of ‘humanness’ that hand crafts do,” she said. “In the ‘Foxfire’ books, which catalog different aspects of mountain culture, there’s a chapter called ‘A Quilt Is Something Human,’ and I think that’s one of the key pieces illustrating this.

“Things from the store are just stuff,” she said. “But a handmade item carries something of the person with it.”

Anyone interested in participating in Jackson’s search can email jacksong1@duq.edu or write her at Gwendolen Jackson, c/o Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15282.