From Standardization to Innovation: Crafting Knowledge Claims in Contemporary Handloom Weaving by Dr Annapurna Mamidipudi
In her talk, Dr Annapurna introduced the question on sustainability in traditional Indian craftsmanship. Explaining the averseness of such craftsmen toward modernity, she recorded their response that there is no future for such craft practices and hence the need for modernising the same stands irrelevant. Dr Annapurna’s work focuses on the nearly 4.3 million Indians who are directly or indirectly involved in Handloom Weaving. She also stated that Handloom Weaving is the second largest means of livelihood in India after agriculture.
The speaker elaborated the craft’s struggle and competition in the market against the mechanized textile industry. She dwelt upon the paradoxical views in the understanding of traditional Handloom Weaving, i.e. patrons are equally vocal about conserving traditional methods while they also call for doing away with the outdated technology.
The speaker provided details of how craft producers make and maintain claims of ownership of handloom knowledge through the production of creative yet tacit innovation in the market. She mentioned three kinds of tacit knowledge viz. somatic, relational and collective. Weavers deliberately hide the tacit knowledge.
Handloom Weavers do make use of computers for designs and setups and use mobile phones for outreach, but the actual ‘weaving’ is carried out by the loom. The loom thus resists modernisation and mechanisation. Innovation is ‘recast’ as tradition.
The speaker explained her propositions with the example of the Jamdani style of handloom weaving from Uppada village in Andhra Pradesh. The talk was followed by a Question-Answer session.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER –
Dr Annapurna Mamidipudi is currently employed at the University of Maastricht as a post-doctoral researcher, following the completion of her doctoral thesis titled ‘Towards a theory of innovation in handloom weaving’. She was trained as an engineer before she established and worked for over 15 years in an NGO that supported vulnerable craft livelihoods. She is an awardee of the Global Social Business Incubator program of Santa Clara University of 2009. Her research interests include the study of traditional craft in the contemporary world, particularly handloom weaving as embodied knowledge and the politics of sustainable development. She has been a visiting fellow at the University of Chicago’s Neubauer Collegium, as well as to the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science this year. She serves on the executive committee of the Craft Education and Research Centre at Kalakshetra, the premier Music and Dance institution, in Chennai.
-By Akshay Patil
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