HAND MEASURED

When asked about where her family gathered, CM shares memories of gathering in the family room around the TV. For holidays or other large family gatherings everyone would gather in her grandmother’s cinderblock home just a few doors down. During the preparation for these events CM would watch her Grandma measure ingredients in the palm of her hand without a recipe. Today, on the occasion CM may be seen using a measuring cup or recipe, however, she hasn’t forgotten the tradition of sharing her Grandma’s lessons on how to bake using what God gave her.

Bill Withers, an American singer, and songwriter, performed “Grandma’s Hands” in 1971. Because AfricanAmerican families are traditionally matrilineal may be what makes “Grandma’s Hands” particularly recognizable to Black folks from the South. The song’s major concept is the protecting and nurturing energy of the hands, which always left something sweet.

It’s important to note that these experiences similar to baking by using the palm of your hand to measure can be used in design. “Anthropometry can be applied to design, but the dimensional data of the human body must be both static and dynamic. This measurement needs to be taken when someone moves, does activities, or participates in work. Additionally, anthropometric measurements cannot be equated for people across two geographies, so one cannot use measurement data from the Philippines to design architecture in the USA.”1

1 Anthropometry In Architecture Design | Urban Design Lab. 26 Jan. 2022, https://urbandesignlab. in/anthropometry-in-architecture-design-urbandesign-lab/.