On Thursday 7th November, EMKP Panellist Stephanie Bunn presented a thought-provoking lecture on the relationship between basketry and mathematics, for the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas annual William Fagg Lecture. The lecture saw an attendance of 120 guests, from diverse academic and museum backgrounds, and was organised by the department’s very own, Helen Anderson.
The lecture, titled “The Humble Basket” explored the significance of hand skills, such as basketry and cordage for human cognitive abilities, including mathematics and the use of space and geometry. As a creative practitioner herself, who has worked on baskets, Stephanie’s creative and academic work explores how such basketry skills develop alongside mathematical skills of numbering, three-dimensional understandings, patterning, and symmetry.
Stephanie drew our attention to the embodied nature of basket-making. It is not just the forms or patterning of baskets, but also the bodily gestural techniques that a maker uses, which enables them to have an embodied understanding of spatial and geometric relations. As Stephanie explained, “the very process of weaving baskets helps our understanding of their structural and mathematical properties”.
What was also of note, was her point that showcased the difficulty of replicating 3-dimensional structures by a machine, or with the development of an algorithm. It may be possible to construct a 3D printed approximation of a basket, but it will not be held together by the same forces and materials as those woven together by human expertise. Further, as the maker forms each basket individually, and as the materials are natural, there is a level of uniqueness to each basket. Here at EMKP, we celebrate the documentation of such weaving expertise, recognising that the objects today that are made through mass globalisation, do not compare to the quality and potency of objects made by expert knowledge holders, using natural materials and traditional techniques, from across the world.
The lecture drew on the work of American ethno-mathematician, Jerry Lipka, who worked with Yup’ik teachers and elders in Fairbanks, Alaska for decades. He noted the value systems of the Yup’ik on estimation and understanding proportion, often beginning with a ‘simple’ fold. Yup’ik making projects start from an orthogonal or criss-cross centre and work outwards. Folding often plays a significant role in the making process, and there is a lot of trial and error, a consideration of proportion, and an important balance between the Yup’ik ethics of valuing both care and accuracy in craft practice. These principles are conveyed in their origin and belief stories: the view is that the spirit of the world is pleased with carefully crafted objects, involving symmetry and precision alongside estimation and proportional measuring.
Stephanie ended the talk with a humbling statement: “‘while these days many people may think of baskets as rather humble artefacts, we could perhaps instead be rather humbled by the basket”. Indeed, there is much to be learned in paying attention to the intricacies of material culture and their related knowledge systems. We thank Stephanie for a great lecture.
On this note, we would like to announce that Stephanie Bunn will be stepping down from her role as an EMKP Panel Member. Dr. Bunn has served on the Panel from the inception of EMKP, and has extensively contributed her expertise and experience in Central Asian felt textiles and basketry to the programme. She will be greatly missed as part of EMKP. If you are interested in her upcoming work on basketry and mathematics, she is currently co-authoring a volume, titled ‘Crafting Mathematics’, with Hilary Burns, Mary Crabb, Geraldine Jones, Charlotte Megroureche, and Ricardo Nemirovsky. The volume will be published by Bloomsbury at the end of 2025, or early 2026. Watch this space!
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