From Marginalized Worker to Impoverished Entrepreneur: The Globalization of the Trade in Crafts and Its Impact on Indian Artisans

How can we comprehend the immense impact of the globalization of trade on local producers? What links are established by re-fashioned trade relationships between local producers and local and global consumers? These are two of the questions I had in mind when commencing research in 2003 on the impact of globalization on Indian artisans. The globalization of production in the world economy has opened up the markets of Asia to global competition and exchange. Artisans and craft workers in India, who come from some of the most marginal and impoverished communities, are fast losing their traditional jobs and becoming displaced, unemployed and further impoverished. This chapter provides both the evidence and explanation for what can be seen as the largely negative impact of globalized trade for marginal communities and the way some members of these communities respond. The response generally can be seen in terms of meeting market demands and consumer expectations, but with a need for many artisans to fundamentally change the nature of their labour and the craft production process itself. Also, artisans are driven by the sheer necessity to survive to become increasingly entrepreneurial by attempting to create market niches, adapt their craft styles to meet fluctuating consumer demands, and compete with others in the neoliberal world of the ‘free’ trade in handicrafts. Artisan labour is precarious (Scrase 2003), as is their daily lives and that of their families and communities.