Homemade and Hell Raising Through Craft, Activism, and Do-It-Yourself Culture

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on the intersections of craft activism as it stands within larger DIY craft culture and the professional-amateur divide. It uses a wider body of literature to highlight a contradiction between the ethos of “Do It Yourself,” or DIY, which touts self-sufficiency and a romanticization of the handmade, and the very real connection between DIY gathering sites, whether virtual or in-person, and neoliberal consumerism. The piece discusses Do It Yourself culture as a whole, with special attention as to how physical and virtual DIY sites connect with consumerism, then overviews interrelatedness of the DIY lifestyle and professional-amateurism, paying specific attention to collaborative projects between professionals and amateurs. Using those prefaces, the paper focuses on an activist DIY subculture that attempts to resist the neoliberalism pervasive in wider DIY. It concludes by outlining real instances of craftivism and how the makers approached their projects, which serve to demonstrate how truly powerful craftivist resistance can be.