Exogamy in World Craft: A South-South Perspective

Abstract

At a recent UNESCO workshop in Chile, important questions were asked about the relation between globalization and traditional craft. With the emergence of transnational craft practices, there is increasing “outsourcing” of craft techniques from consumer societies to the Global South. This contradicts the widely held perception of craft as a self-contained cultural expression, where form and content are bonded closely together. It can be argued that such partnerships promote an exogamy that can strengthen craft traditions. But in order to resist the commodification that can elide its craft origins, there needs to be a set of standards to ensure recognition of the producer. These new encounters between traditional and modern worlds are the subject of a growing conversation across the South.

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