Knitting as a Way of Honoring Black Ancestry and Creating Storytelling Through Community, Belonging, and the Reframing of Grief: A Womanist Perspective (Le tricot comme moyen d’honorer l’héritage noir et de créer la narration à travers la communauté, l’appartenance et le recadrage du deuil : une perspective féministe noire)

Abstract

This paper is written with the flow of journey. It challenges the way that research is traditionally experienced in the field of art therapy in that it calls upon womanism with its emphasis on place making, survival skills, Black diasporic connectivity, storytelling, and experience centering, with an understanding that within a story there is more occurring than just the words spoken. It is written to be read as a whole, flowing experience and recognizes, openly, that the preface, research, and methodology all fed into the outcome. The research from its concept to completion was a back-and-forth process that needed honoring for its story and contribution just as much as the data output it created. Stories build on stories, as memories build on memories, in a messy, nonlinear way that is deeply reflective of life. This paper utilizes nontraditional research headings to honor the story.