My Blog - The Ties that Bind

The Ties that Bind

21
Feb

Watching the shuttle fly back and forth, one gets the impression that the past and the future are being woven together at the same time as cloth emerges from the loom. And speaking with leaders in India’s handloom revival helps me to see how the persistence of this millennia-old technology remains a vital part of our present. Given the need to revamp production and consumption in our era of climate change, such technologies may play a key role in the future as well. India accounts for 80-90% of the world’s handwoven textiles and is thus a crucial link in the ties that bind people all around the world—my own research confirms that women from many countries use social media to discuss, share, and acquire handloom clothing from Indian entrepreneurs. While in India I have the opportunity to meet the weavers and entrepreneurs working to improve conditions for weavers, retain cultural traditions, and contribute to the future of handwoven cloth.

Looking down at a pit loom with a saree being produced. The weaver sits to the left with legs under the part of the loom where the finished saree is emerging.

Over the course of my Fulbright-Nehru grant, I’ve been observing and interviewing handloom weavers and entrepreneurs who bring their products to the international market. Weavers face many social and economic difficulties, and these contribute to village flight. Among those who stay, weaving families often prefer their handloom but work a power loom because doing so affords them precious leisure time. Many weavers have given up handloom, believing that no one wants to wear it. One element uniting my work in S. India (in and around Bangalore) is an interest in how social media produce better economic outcomes for weavers by connecting the village producers to global consumers— consumers who have carved out a space on Instagram and other social media for sharing their knowledge and love of Indian textiles, especially sarees (traditional garments draped from a long piece of fabric).

Two of the people I’ve met recently were representatives of the companies Vimor [link https://vimor.in] and Malkha [link https://malkha.in/]. Vimor and Malkha have very different products, but they are united in their dedication to restoring the past while envisioning the future. Pavithra Muddaya at Vimor has spent decades in a project she began with her mother: finding heritage sarees and bringing their unique weaves back into fashion through her own flair for design. Malkha’s task has been to restore India’s fabric to the soil from which it comes: as chronicled in their co-founder’s book, A Frayed History [link to Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Frayed-History-Journey-Cotton-India/dp/019947463X and Amazon.in https://www.amazon.in/Frayed-History-Journey-Cotton-India/dp/019947463X/ ], Malkha has worked with Indian farmers to resume growing local, short-staple cottons (which are better suited to the climate, but less well-suited to large industrial spinning machines) and connects the farmers to local spinners and weavers so that the end product has been grown, carded, spun, and woven all within 200km. Vimor and Malkha thus both reflect upon the role of textiles in India’s cultural heritage while contributing to its future.

Me and my wife with the team of Vimor: (left to right): Arup Muddaya, Robert Geraci, Vipra Muddaya, Pavithra Muddaya, Jovi Geraci, Mounica

Vimor and Malkha unite the past, present, and future. Their work – and that of likeminded entrepreneurs, NGOs, and others – provides the warp and weft holding together the lives of Indians and Non-resident Indians (and some others) around the world. A quick look at the Instagram hashtags 100sareepact, sareenotsorry, sareelove, and more confirms that these issues, textiles, garments, and traditions are deeply important to Indians both at home and abroad.

Too often, studies of technology either relish the powers and prestige of new technologies or regard traditional technologies as archaic relics, presenting them like a zoo with its endangered species. My project rejects this dichotomy, suggesting that technologies traditional and new are both part of a continuum fully exploited by people with a variety of interests: transnational connection to Indian heritage, community building among likeminded people, historical preservation, beautiful clothing, fair wages, and environmental sustainability.

Blogger : Robert Geraci Host Institute : Victoria Memorial Categories : Senior Scholar Comments : 0 Comment

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