Introduction: understanding contemporary craft work

Craft work is a complex and contested activity where meaning and value is shaped by historical, sociocultural and economic conditions. The craft revival is shaped by new forms of populist politics driven by fears about migration and work. These political discourses focus on postindustrial regions such as the North American 'rustbelt', LaTrobe Valley in Australia, Southern Italy, Wales or the North-East of England. The identity work involved in craft organization draws on narratives through which workers and consumers seek to account for their lives and actions. Finally, this chapter presents an overview of this book. The book describes the work of women engaged in self-employed craft work as a way of overcoming the obstacles of managing family/motherhood and work in traditional organizations. It focuses on the craft beer industry, revealing a hyper-masculine culture and demonstrating how a pre-industrial, feminized craft became a male-dominated practice. The book explores the potential of nostalgia to return to a lost past via craft.