MACR’s Vision Cut Short at WWC: Discontinuation of Masters of Arts in Critical Craft Studies
Sophia Huang | May 3, 2022
Special to The Echo | Jessie Shires
In an email sent out early in April, Provost and Dean of Faculty, Jay Roberts, announced the discontinuation of the Master of Arts in Critical Craft Studies (MACR) at Warren Wilson College (WWC). The five-year program spearheaded an emerging field centering on craft studies that has traditionally been a subset of different academic disciplines. Roberts stated financial factors as the main reason.
"The pandemic and the economic slowdown combined with shifts in preferences and interests in higher education and the graduate school market, have made it increasingly difficult for us to meet our enrollment goals and targets in the program,” Roberts wrote.
MACR was a two-year low-residency graduate program with students and faculty meeting remotely from across the US and coming together for the annual in-person residency at WWC during the summer.
Namita Gupta Wiggers, founder and director of MACR, is a recognized curator, educator, writer and artist in the field of craft. She expressed disappointment in the decision because of how integrated the MACR program was designed and envisioned to be in the place and institution of WWC; from the geographic and physical space, the different crews to the learning about materiality and resources.
“It really is disappointing because there is no other place, honestly, there is no other place where we could have examined this (craft) critically, physically, materially, to teach students in so many different ways than at Warren Wilson College,” Wiggers said. “It is … in every possible way a living laboratory, and it’s really unfortunate that the students won’t get that experience anymore.”
Jeff Keith, global studies professor at WWC’s undergraduate program and one of MACR’s core faculty emphasized the interdisciplinarity, creativity and critical engagement in MACR, and the community of students, faculty and renowned guest lecturers. He wrote a detailed response for MACR’s Spring 2022 email newsletter following Roberts' announcement of the MACR cancellation.
As a currently enrolled student with a focus on craft pedagogy and its connections with environmental sustainability and stewardship, Beryl Perron-Feller pointed out the short period of time since MACR’s existence and the program’s steady growth in relation to the cancellation.
Special to The Echo | Jessie Shires
“It came as really a huge, huge shock when we heard this news because we have only been around for a few years and you know sometimes that in itself puts programs on rocky grounds,” Perron-Feller said. “But it’s like every year, even through the pandemic, like making things better and how can we keep growing, and there was all of this forward energy, and it was getting more and more momentum, and it really felt like that announcement is just like ‘wow,’ really cutting it off at the knees before we got to really into our groove.”
Wiggers also expressed surprise for the leadership’s decision and incomprehension for the lack of communication from the leadership in the decision-making process. According to her, neither she, as the founding director, nor the Director of Admission Nathan Wyrick were included in the process.
From the think tank in 2016, from which MACR emerged, until today, the program has continuously centered the efforts to decolonize higher education in their program. According to Wiggers, their pedagogical model, theories and lenses used, and encouragement for asking critical questions are all practices that align with the college's strategic plan, especially Strategic Imperative 3 on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
“As the director of the program and a person of the global majority on a campus where there are very few people of the global majority in faculty and leadership roles, I saw my role and my responsibility to implement that strategic plan fully through not just what we teach but also how we teach it,” Wiggers said. “It took that very seriously and the student work reflects that and the faculty work reflects that as well. Everybody worked very hard to learn, so it wasn’t about checking boxes saying, ‘tick-tick-tick’ we did it but understanding that this is ongoing work, it’s a process, it’s a core aspect of what it means to be a learning institution.“
Jennifer Hand was recently awarded the renowned Rakower Research Grant for her thesis to deconstruct and decolonize the history and narratives around studio glass through black feminist discourse around direct action and collaborative care. She attributes her achievements to the mentorship and support of the students and faculty in the program.
“It’s shocking to me that the program is getting cut because it is doing so much important work,” Hand said. “It’s a huge oversight on the part of Warren Wilson's leadership I will say because this program is not stopping, it’s just stopping being at Warren Wilson, it’s got so much more to do. And I can see where the alignment with Warren Wilson (is) … Warren Wilson is losing an incredible amount of energy and momentum and prestige that the people who are associated with this program bring to it.”
Roberts confirmed that MACR will “teach out” the current first-year cohort and that the funding of the third grant cycle with the Windgate Foundation will focus on expanding craft at the undergraduate level.
To learn more about MACR publications, please refer to their website and Instagram page @macraftstudieswwc.
