The Domestic Arts
Reclaiming the Science, Soul, and Magic of Homemaking
A Domestic Arts Revival Month essay!
Thesis: Homemaking is not frivolous unimportant housework; It’s the practice of Domestic Science (the method) and Domestic Artistry (the magic). By reviving this holistic practice we combine different forms of knowledge and activity (intellectual, creative, spiritual, or practical) into a cohesive, lived framework.
The Lost Language of Homemaking
Home Economics became officially recognized in 1917, when the Smith-Hughes Act named it as education for the home. That term soon replaced older ones like “Domestic Economy” used by Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe in the 1800s to mean household management and later “Domestic Science,” which emerged after the Civil War as girls began formal training in cooking, cleaning , and sewing.
Over time, names like “Housecraft,” “Home Science,” and “Family Life Education” appeared around the world, but the purpose stayed the same: to teach the art and method of running a home well. Whatever we call it, homemaking has always been about more than chores; it’s about creating order, stability, and care in a changing world. All of this is explained in “History of Home Economics in the Caribbean.”
Today, we call it chores or housework. But our grandmothers used different language for it: Domestic Arts. Domestic Science. That’s what they called it. Those terms sound almost mythical now, don’t they? It’s almost like an ancient forgotten language. It carried both scientific and spiritual reverence. So how did this holistic and respected craft get whittled down and reduced to “women’s work”? When did homemaking stop being seen as a science and become unappreciated? Who benefits from this loss? What happens when women reclaim it?
I, admittedly am a beginner homemaker, but I am on a critical mission to reclaim that mythical language and power. My argument is that homemaking is a foundational art and science and I am using the practice of homemaking to ensure my own autonomy and self-sufficiency. I do not strive to be a homemaker like that of a tradwife; I’m a homemaker in the rebellion sense. My “aha!” came after the recent presidential election. I came to the harsh realization that the conveniences Americans once enjoyed would soon come to an end, and the only way to survive would be to expand and develop essential skills. These skills like, cooking, sewing, and growing your own food, are all essential to homemaking; it’s creating a home that is fortified and safe. This is the very basis of a homemaker’s life. Homemaking does include completing chores but it is also creating a space of safety and resilience. Not to mention the magic and the fun have been sucked out of modern day homemaking as people use it as a means to control women instead of liberating them.
The Science of Sanctuary, Homemaking as a System
We will define Domestic Science as the method of homemaking; it is the knowledge organized into a process. The logic of homemaking is not servitude; it is power in rhythm and routine. I want to introduce you to Ellen Swallow Richards. She is the founder of Home Economics, originally called Domestic Science. She worked to apply scientific principles to household management. While I disagree with the racist and classist assumptions she embedded in her idea of “scientific homemaking,” some of Richards’s ideas about dignifying domestic labor and improving living conditions can be re-imagined through a modern, liberatory framework. One that centers autonomy, creativity, and care rather than conformity or control. Ellen Swallow Richards saw home economics as “the science of better living” that could elevate daily life (Science History Institute).
Homemakers should be seen as scientist of rhythm, nutrition, balance, and sustainability. Consider things like the chemistry of fermentation or bread-baking; the organization of time as emotional regulation; composting as transformation science, turning decay into nourishment. Are you going to tell me this isn’t science?! Science is the ritual that creates order so art can thrive. Understanding the science is the first act of magic. It’s how we gain predictability and control. Homemaking as a science is about building a resilient and reliable system. A well-run home is a fortress. A fortress against chaos. A fortress against violence. A fortress against the dangers and unpredictability of the outside world. It’s the logical foundation that the magic is built upon.
The Art of Atmosphere, Homemaking as Creation
There is an emotional and spiritual side of homemaking that we need to explore which is homemaking is as expression, beauty, and care. Let’s now define Domestic Artistry. It’s the magic; the knowledge expressed through creation. Where science ends, soul begins! Homemaking as Domestic Artistry is the power to craft atmosphere: scent, color, light, routine. The artistry of a table set (even for one) is a beautifully decorated place to dine. The creativity of a meal made from scratch that sits so well in your tummy it feels like a warm blanket of comfort is wrapped around you. The vision of a jar of propagated pothos on a windowsill. The ritual of lighting a candle while you clean or while you sit to relax and reading a book. Curating playlists or scents that alter mood. The symbolism here is the home as an alter and every activity in the home, a ritual. This is how homemakers integrate a house into a home. It’s how we inject, beauty, wisdom, magic, and our spirit into the scientific system. This is the “witchcraft.” Witchcraft is a word that people have come to fear but hear me when I say this is propaganda to keep us from understanding the magic and mysticism of homemaking.
The Hearth as a Haven, Our Ancestors’ Blueprint
It’s time to honor and respect the historical and ancestral roots of homemaking as survival and quiet resistance, especially for Black women. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers never viewed homemaking as just a hobby but as a means of survival. It was a way for them to curate a space of safety and dignity in a world that denied them both. Enslaved and post-emancipation Black women often performed domestic work professionally as a form of employment and often recreated those skills in their own homes to affirm dignity. As historian Hilary Green Stremlau reminds us, “How lonely and tragic to have to care for other women’s children while being denied the ability to mother one’s own. That was the reality of slavery in the homes of white faculty and administrators in college towns across the antebellum South,” she says. “And even after slavery ended, Black women were still doing so much of that work for the college. They made possible all the accomplishments we read about” (DeAngelis).
The work they did was both a necessity and devotion. I’ve come to see my home as a counter-world: a refuge. A place of safety, creativity, and comfort. I initially took up homemaking activities as hobbies but came to realize this domestic craft is akin to survival technology. It’s a way for me to enjoy and indulge in Soul Food, hair care and gardening. Much like a cultural archive. Outside my door is a world of racism, violence, femicide, uncertainty, and chaos but within these walls I am working to recreate the same home our ancestors created: a sanctuary. A place where I can relax and exhale and truly be myself without constant burden. When I think of what my ancestors did before me I realize every meal cooked was from scratch and served as a lesson in nourishment against deprivation. How amazing they were to be able to make delicious meals even with food that was considered low tier. Every stitch sewn was a lesson in preserving resources and beauty. They were fortifying the spirit to nourish the soul. This is not a trend that I am dabbling in. When I, a modern woman, chose these skills I am following the blueprint my ancestors left before me. They used Domestic Science and Artistry as tools of survival and love. My goal is the same: to create a space of freedom, comfort, selfhood, and magic!
Gardening, cooking, and homemaking itself are an exciting legacy that I step into. I do not face the same brutal pressures but the mission remains the same. My rebellion is to take these same tools once used for survival and use them to build a life of intentional thriving.
Yet, it’s important to remember that this work was not freely chosen for many of our foremothers. As part of a broader Progressive Era debate over the so-called “Negro problem,” W. E. B. Du Bois and Isabel Eaton identified in their Special Report on Negro Domestic Service that Black women had been disproportionately pushed into domestic work. They argued that a systemic “colored prejudice” operated against Black Americans “in nearly all departments of labor excepting drudgery,” forcing many to follow “the line of least resistance” into domestic service. According to their estimate, ninety-one percent of Philadelphia’s Black women population were employed in domestic labor at the time (Simsovic).
Understanding this history reminds me that homemaking, for Black women, has never been a neutral act it has always existed at the intersection of survival, resistance, and imposed labor. To reclaim it today is to transform a site of exploitation into one of power.
The Reclamation, Weaving the Threads into Rebellion
Homemaking as science and art lost it’s status and importance once men dismissed it as “women’s work.” Yet historically, homemaking was regarded as a vital field of study. As one historian notes, “Beecher was truly ahead of her time in that she believed that all females should be properly educated as it related to matters of the home. This feeling of educating women stemmed from the fact that Beecher believed that mothers and teachers were responsible for the education and moral being of society as a whole. If the home could function in the appropriate manner, then this could help to produce productive citizens who would make valuable contributions to society. This feat could only be accomplished by providing a proper education to women whose sole responsibility at that time was to run the household” (Johnson).
By reviving homemaking as a science and art we can reclaim this practice for ourselves and restore its dignity and autonomy. The history of homemaking especially for black women and working-class women is very complex. The labor was often for survival and exploited for others personal gain. Much of the labor they did benefited others more than it benefited them. Leaving our grandmothers and great-grandmothers exhausted and tired and overworked. Often, they had no choice.
As I take this journey into homemaking and use this as a means to reconnect with my ancestors and honor their legacy I will consider the work I do to be Domestic Art and Science. I’ll do this work not as submission or obligation to others but as a radical act of self-love and definition. I am a homemaker, but not in the way patriarchy imagined. Domestic work should not be used as a means of submission. It’s always been work that needed to be completed for survival. These are life skills we are talking about.
I seek to create a community, a coven, that doesn’t find shame in homemaking. This coven is the new domestic guild; modern homemakers, scientists, and nurtures exchanging knowledge freely. Lets revive the guild of home alchemists. When we share our “scientific” tips and our “artistic” spells we become a coven.
An Invitation to the Hearth
Homemaking was world-building all along. It was never small work. Cook something from scratch. Rearrange your kitchen or light a candle. Call it housework or call it a spell. As we approach Homemaking Appreciation Day (November 3rd) please learn to see the art and science in your daily life. When you look around your home, your sanctuary, see the beauty waiting to be created. Your home is your canvas and your laboratory! Let’s revive the Domestic Arts together, and in doing so, build lives of profound resilience, softness, and unshakable magic. This is our rebellion: to live gently in a world that profits from our exhaustion.