About Us
Around The Yurt - detailed information about yurts
Author: Rob Matthews
Dr Rob Matthews (author):
Rob has a PhD from Durham university and a number of published papers about cancer treatment. In recent years he has studied nomadic tents and in particular the yurt. He is a yurt maker, Yurt Workshop owner, yurt enthusiast, and yurt researcher. Rob is the author of this web site and forthcoming book Around The Yurt.
Dr Anna Portisch (editor):
Anna Portisch received a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Brunel University. She has conducted research on the Kazakh population living in the Altai Mountains in western Mongolia. Her doctoral thesis is an ethnographic study of learning processes and skill-based knowledge amongst Kazakh craftswomen in Mongolia. The Kazakh home, and particularly the summertime yurt, is richly decorated with embroidered and felt textiles. These textiles are made by young girls and women in the course of everyday life. The research inquires into the learning processes through which young girls are gradually incorporated into craft production, and the nature of this skill-based craft knowledge which women continue to develop throughout their lives. The research is based on a year’s fieldwork and apprenticeship with a Kazakh family conducted in the western-most province of Mongolia, Bayan-Olgii aimag.
Our aim is to create a comprehensive and balanced resource that is second to none for content, accuracy and usability.