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ABSTRACT
In the more than seven decades since Indian independence, the relationship between artisan and art in India has radically changed. Having lived in the Kutch region of Gujarat for thirty years and worked with traditional artisans there for fifty, the author presents a rich case study of the impact of commercialisation of textile traditions on artisan communities. The article examines changing patterns of patronage and production among textile artisan communities in Kutch. Drawing on extensive interviews with artisan graduates of a design education program that the author initiated in 2005, it documents how men as well as women tapped into creativity and gained individual recognition. But the success they sought ultimately entailed operation in a market beyond their social sphere. In the realm of the little-known market, men restrained their creativity. For women, persistent social constraints made familiarisation with the market much harder to achieve. However, women graduates who were able to consider crossing gender lines, similarly limited their creativity when they engaged with the market. The author argues that gender per se did not shape an artisan’s traditional relationship to craft and creativity, but rather the relationship to the consumer, which had been determined by gender roles.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. “Artisans’ refers to craft practitioners. It is more honorific and less awkward than ‘craftsmen and women’ or ‘craftspeople”.
2. The lowest Hindu social caste/formerly “Untouchables”.
3. Evaluation interview 12 November 2019.
4. Personal interview 4 July 2008.
5. Personal interview 13 July 2008.
6. Aitken, Molly Emma, 2010.
7. Personal interview 4 July 2008.
8. Personal interview July 2008.
9. Personal interview July 2008.
10. McGowan, Abigail, 2009, p.199.
11. Ibid., 203.
12. Hofstrand, Don. File C5–203 p.1
13. Personal interview 4 July 2008.
14. Personal interview 19 August 2020.
15. A fly shuttle, or flying shuttle, employs a board, called the ‘race,’ at each end of which is a box which catches the shuttle at the end of its journey. A mechanism controlled by the weaver propels the shuttle in both directions.
16. Bhujodi village became so renowned for shawl production during this time that shawls produced in Kutch or resembling them were dubbed ‘Bhujodi shawls’
17. On January 26, 2001 an earthquake of 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale, and Extreme Mercalli intensity scale decimated much of Kutch District.
18. Evaluation interview 3 November 2019.
19. Ajrakh is a specific resist printed textile with a specific composition and repertoire of patterns and motifs dyed in alizarin and indigo, traditionally worn by Islamic pastoralist Maldharis as a lunghi, turban and shoulder cloth. The term came to be applied to a range of resist printed textiles from Kutch dyed originally in natural dyes and later in synthetic dyes of a similar colour palette.
20. Evaluation interview 13 November 2019.
21. Evaluation interview 12 November 2019.
22. Elder male leaders of the Rabari community who decree community rules.
23. Embroidery was an important element of dowry, and Dhebaria Rabari women were increasing the requirements of their self-determined contributions. They could not relocate to their in-laws’ homes until they had finished their dowries. Thus they were prolonging their time in their natal homes.
24. Evaluation interview 13 November 2019.
25. Laila Tyabji, The 5th International Textiles and Costume Congress, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, 3–5 October 2019.
26. Evaluation interview 11 November 2019.
27. This is an industrial design term that refers to ease of production and therefore cost effectiveness.
28. Personal communication June 2019.
29. Personal communication 5 April 2018.
30. Reena Patel and Mary Jane C. Parmentier, “The Persistence of Traditional Gender Roles in the Information Technology Sector: A Study of Female Engineers in India.” The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Information Technologies and International Development, Vol. 2, No. 3, S1–30 (Spring 2005) 29–46. Usha Ram et al, Gender Socialization: Difference between Male and Female Youth in India and Associations with Mental Health.” Hindawi Publishing Corp. International Journal of Population Research, Vol. 2014, Article ID 357,145.
31. Evaluation interview 14 November 2019.
32. Evaluation interview 13 November 2019.
33. Juliet Mitchell, Psychoanalysis and Feminism: Freud, Reich, Laing, and Women (New York: Pantheon Books, 1974).
34. Jack Goncalo et al, “Creativity from Constraint? How the Political Correctness Norm Influences Creativity in Mixed-sex Work Groups,” Johnson Cornell University Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 60 (1) (2015). Acar et al, “Why Constraints are Good for Innovation,” Harvard Business Review (November 22, 2019).
35. Evaluation interview 3 November 2019.
36. Evaluation interview 3 November 2019.