The editors of this special issue on '"Making" and "Doing" the Material World' examine some aspects of the anthropology of techniques, a relatively understudied branch of anthropology, which considers the embodied and cognitive engagement of human beings in their lived material world. They suggest that the use of new theories of embodiment, cognition and performance allows for a consideration of the role of the senses, perception, emotions and materiality in the formation of knowledgeable, gendered subjects. They argue that the Francophone and Anglophone traditions in the anthropology of techniques are complementary, despite their divisions (between and within them). Key Words ◆ embodiment ◆ materiality ◆ performance ◆ subjectivation ◆ technology '"MAKING" AND "DOING" THE MATERIAL WORLD': A WORKSHOP The multidisciplinary workshop '"Making" and "Doing" the Material World' held at University College London (UCL) in January 2008 was the starting point of a new dialogue between the material culture group at UCL's Department of Anthropology and the members of the Technologie Culturelle group (Francophone scholars spread over several institutions). Subsequently, a series of workshops and seminars 1 were held in Marseille, at the Museum of the Quai Branly in Paris, and at UCL. A special issue of the French journal Techniques & Culture (no. 52) will be published in parallel with this one. We hope that the selected papers will stimulate a renewed interest in the study of technology. They answer some of the questions raised during the workshop and work towards a definition of techniques or technology 411

This article is concerned with the role of formal education in the upward social mobility of women in the Sirwa, a marginal Berber region of southern Morocco where carpets are produced by women, and marketed by men. To explore why girls' education in weaving takes precedence over formal education, the article considers the place of women's education in the livelihood strategies of the household and the significance of marriage in women's social mobility. [gender, economic activity, social capital, community of practice] bs_bs_banner

In this article, I propose a praxeological and phenomenological approach to weaving in the Sirwa, Southern Morocco. My perspective highlights the significance of `body techniques' in the material process of socialization and subject construction. From the Francophone anthropology of technology I derive the argument that materiality is not given or finished, but is in-the-making and emerging through body techniques. My argument that embodied engagement with materiality constructs gendered subjects through performance can be situated in a theoretical tradition that analyses gender as achieved through `doing' (Butler, 1990, Gender Trouble). I show how the making of carpets contributes to the transforming of the body and mind, desires and emotions of the Sirwan women to fit the patriarchal norm prevailing in their society. Using the concept of subjectivation, however, I argue that the disciplinary techniques of weaving allow practitioners to gain not only technical skills but agency.

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