"Om vi inte gör trasmattor i framtiden är det ren dumhet": En etnologisk studie av vävd betydelse och tradition

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis is to study rag rugs as a textile object and how people create meaning with rag rugs focusing on tradition and memory. The thesis is based on a contemporary research material consisting of answers from a survey and interviews containing people’s thoughts and experiences around rag rugs. The analysis shows how rag rugs become meaningful for individuals today because of how the textile object relates as a legacy and memory from older female generations and create an experience of sentimental significance. Based on the research material rag rugs can be described within a private sphere as an inherited knowledge and object from older female relatives which creates a will to pass on rag rugs to younger generations. This also explains rag rugs as tradition where the use of the past is creating meaning today. The making of rag rugs also relates to societal critique and moral values today because of how textiles are reused in the craft. This puts rag rugs also into a public sphere as a process where it is made current in relation of a contemporary pursuit of sustainability and therefore important to pass on into the future.