Sakshi Tokas, Vanshika Mittal, S. Agarwal, D. Mohan, Jignesh Mistry, T. Mohan
{"title":"Tracing the journey of a craft from ‘Embeddedness’ to ‘Commercialisation’: A case of hand block printing from the Jaipur Region","authors":"Sakshi Tokas, Vanshika Mittal, S. Agarwal, D. Mohan, Jignesh Mistry, T. Mohan","doi":"10.1080/14631369.2022.2132913","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Karl Polanyi’s theories on embeddedness and disembeddedness help unpack the transformation of exchange systems and emergence of markets in societies. This paper analyses a process of such transformation observed in the context of the hand block printing industry of Jaipur and its nearby areas. Through an ethnographic study of the craft, we observe the extent to which hand block printing has undergone heavy commodification and commercialisation while disembedding from the society. Over the years, aspects of hand block printing, such as design, labour and authenticity, have changed for the worse, which has further impacted the socio-cultural identity of this craft and crafts(wo)men engaging in it. Some underlying forces behind this are the commodification of labour and the commercialisation of the craft. While expanding on these, the paper also provides policy recommendations on the aspects of recognising artists and standardising labels in the industry.","PeriodicalId":45296,"journal":{"name":"Asian Ethnicity","volume":"24 1","pages":"301 - 318"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asian Ethnicity","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2022.2132913","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ETHNIC STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT Karl Polanyi’s theories on embeddedness and disembeddedness help unpack the transformation of exchange systems and emergence of markets in societies. This paper analyses a process of such transformation observed in the context of the hand block printing industry of Jaipur and its nearby areas. Through an ethnographic study of the craft, we observe the extent to which hand block printing has undergone heavy commodification and commercialisation while disembedding from the society. Over the years, aspects of hand block printing, such as design, labour and authenticity, have changed for the worse, which has further impacted the socio-cultural identity of this craft and crafts(wo)men engaging in it. Some underlying forces behind this are the commodification of labour and the commercialisation of the craft. While expanding on these, the paper also provides policy recommendations on the aspects of recognising artists and standardising labels in the industry.
期刊介绍:
In the twenty-first century ethnic issues have assumed importance in many parts of the world. Until recently, questions of Asian ethnicity and identity have been treated in a balkanized fashion, with anthropologists, economists, historians, political scientists, sociologists and others publishing their studies in single-discipline journals. Asian Ethnicity provides a cross-disciplinary, international venue for the publication of well-researched articles about ethnic groups and ethnic relations in the half of the world where questions of ethnicity now loom largest. Asian Ethnicity covers any time period, although the greatest focus is expected to be on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.