Desmanchando novelos e tecendo sonhos: a vida das rendeiras de Camalaú.

Abstract

Studies about crafts in Brazil have been dismissed to a place of minor importance. However, considering that craft is an importam and present activity and has a social function, we pursue, in this study, contemplate material and symbolic aspects of this activity. It includes how the female lacemaker lives are organized to work on the renaissance lace And how their relationship with the diverse social agents connected with the lace business - from production to commercialization - are constructed. Guided by the perspective that the concepts are not static but they are built upon a permanent dialogue between theory and empirical evidence, we pursue to understand craft as a general term which hide many particuiarities. As an ethnography, the attempt was to guarantee a dialogue between theory and fíeld work. In this sense, this text intends to point out the heterogeneity of renaissance lace craft as an economic activity and the pleasant side of making it.