Kitchens to kinships: Understanding hidden role of domestic care and meaning of empowerment through stories of women in the ecosystem of a textile craft community in India (The case of Kosa Silk Weaving Community in Chattisgarh)
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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Date
2024-11-13
Department
Major/Subject
Creative Sustainability
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Degree programme
Master's Programme in Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
68
Series
Abstract
The craft communities in India are struggling with the challenges and volatile effects of climate change, rapid industrialization and socio-economic developments. Each craft community in India have a set of values and belief systems which are directly linked with sustainability of the lifestyle and environment around the community. These values help the community to maintain their relationship with each other, their craft and stay grounded in their surroundings in the face of the constant transitioning world. Within the craft communities in India, women play a significant role in upholding the backbone of the community through their contributions. The women’s contributions involve both skill-based work for the craft as well as fulfilling the domestic household responsibilities, which involves the care which goes behind the craft and the community. This contribution also includes women’s knowledge about the community’s value systems, religion, food, climate and relationships fostered through conversations. Craft development projects in India often equate empowerment for women with financial independence, overlooking the significance of women’s contribution through domestic care. Hence, the contribution of the women mostly stays hidden behind the craft product along with their emotions, conversations and perspectives. However, for the women in rural craft communities in India, empowerment is a multifaceted and rich concept extending from Kitchens to Kinships. My thesis attempts to look into the alternate meanings of empowerment from the perspective of women in the Kosa silk weaving craft community in Chattisgarh, India. Studying the ecosystem of a craft community can provide a lens to look at the importance of women’s work and the values sustained by them. Through participation with the women in kitchens, conversations, documentation and narrative building, I studied the ecosystem of the Kosa silk weaving community. In the process, I bring out a more systemic understanding of the interconnections between the textile weaving and household domestic care-work within the context of Kosa silk weaving community in Chattisgarh, India. I share my findings in the form of stories around the household work, craft and the community, as told by the women. The stories of women are a means to explore the hidden role of domestic care which contributes towards sustenance of the community and the meaning of empowerment for the women in their work. Understanding women’s work in a craft community can help us to rethink empowerment for women in a more nuanced way, acknowledging the importance of both domestic and craft work along with the impact their work has on the sustenance of a craft community in India.Description
Supervisor
Botero Cabrera, AndreaThesis advisor
Ferreira Litowtschenko, MariaKeywords
craft community, women's work, empowerment, domestic care, sustainability, values