Each Wednesday, I write a post that is from my dissertation.
Scrapbooking can be a social activity. Through scrapbooking, people are able to socialize in obvious ways, such as scrapbooking with other people. Scrapbooking, however, is also a way to spend time with people who are not physically with you. A couple of respondents in my study talked about scrapbooking as a way to spend time with deceased loved ones and how scrapbooking helped the grieving process. One of these respondents lost the relative when they were too young to even remember the person. By scrapbooking about this person, she was able to get to know her relative.
Scrapbooking brings people together. People who otherwise have nothing in common, have common ground (and something to talk about) in scrapbooking. Though most of my respondents do not crop with others, those who do emphasized the importance of the social aspect of cropping. One scrapbooker began attending crops after the death of her boyfriend as a way to meet people, for instance. Scrapbooking also brings people together over shared memories within the pages of a scrapbook. Scrapbooking brings people together in obvious and not so obvious ways.
Related posts:
- Why Scrapbooking
- Scrapbooking Has No Rules. Yes, But Scrapbooking Does Have Norms.
- Scrapbooking is Relaxing and Fun (Purpose of Scrapbooking)
- Scrapbook for the Future (Purpose of Scrapbooking)
Stephanie
Stephanie Medley-Rath is a sociologist and scrapbooker who studies scrapbooking and memory keeping. Scrapworthy Lives is a blog focused on her sociological analysis of scrapbooking, with a sprinkling of posts about Stephanie's own scrapbooking projects.
