So-called Traditional Knowledge Systems (TKS), which consist of traditional, local and indigenous knowledge, are often underscored as intrinsically sustainable in Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) literature. For example the World Commission on Environment and Development claims that: “These communities are the repositories of vast accumulations of traditional knowledge and experience that links humanity with its ancient origins” (1987:114). Moreover, the commission states that the communities’ disappearance is a loss for the larger society, which could learn a great deal from their e.g. traditional skills in sustainably managing very complex ecological systems (ibid). However, although the practical aspect of TKS is a definitive factor in such meaning making practices, few studies have analysed meaning making in TKS involving handicraft. Thus, in order to contribute to the ESE research about the added value of TKS for ESE practices this paper presents the results from a pilot study of meaning making within a textile crafting practice in Shiro Meda, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This paper relates to two common topics within the environmental movement and environmental and sustainability education discourse: textile production and traditional knowledge. Crafting, clothing and textile production raise many important questions concerning sustainable development, both on a societal level and for the educational process and its outcomes. Moreover, although scholars and policymakers stress the importance of TKS for sustainable development, few studies have focused on whether, and if so what and how, environmental meaning making in textile crafting practices has something to offer for ESE research? Hence, the aim of this paper is twofold: to explore the meaning making in textile crafting and its significance for ESE theory and to test empirical methods of analysis. The two main questions for the study are:

1) How is meaning making in textile crafting constituted by the Dorzes?

2) What theoretical and methodological contributions may it have on ESE research?

This paper draws on a pragmatic theory that is influenced by John Dewey’s philosophy and on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s theory of language. This theoretical stance offers a transactional perspective on meaning making, i. e. meaning is made in people’s actions. Action can from this theoretical stance also include stories, as stories are narratives of how people make meaning of the world (Maivorsdotter & Quennerstedt, 2012). The data analysed are narratives by the Dorze people with a focus on meaning making in textile crafting.

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