Sewing Circles of Herat

On re-reading my intro to my blog, I mentioned subversive sewing and how sewing is does not get banned by the government, thus allowing people a freedom of expression through the medium of sewing. However, aside from the Bolivian prostitutes I have yet to mention much subversive sewing. This brings us to my favorite sewing topic, which is political resistance and sewing. Below is a link to a review of the book "The Sewing Circles of Herat". I must admit that I have not read the entire book; however, I did read the chapter dedicated to a sewing circle. For any of you that don't know too much about the Taliban, I will share a little of what I know. You see the Taliban had taken away so much from women, and really all of the people of Afghanistan. The Taliban would take away your father for example and say that they will torture and kill him if you don't come and torture and kill for us. How awful and what a position to be put in; any of us would want to save our families. Under the Taliban women had to be covered,and could not be educated; however,women were still allowed to sew. One man used the guise of a sewing circle to educate women in his home. Obviously, this was very brave, as he was risking torture and death. While this sewing circle did not actually sew and spent their time learning, I think it is worth mentioning because it shows how powerful the act of sewing can be. Because it is functional, it is protected.

http://www.cs.brown.edu/~sk/Personal/Books/Lamb-Sewing-Circles-Herat/