Globalization and Artisans

The technological advances and economic liberalization brought about by Globalization leads to the integration of economic, political and cultural systems across the globe. Globalization encompasses five ways of flow namely Ethnoscapes, Technoscapes, Financescapes, Mediascapes and Ideoscapes. Thus, globalization is a unique process which not only offers new opportunities to humankind but also brings many challenges. In Indian context, prior to globalization, every Artisan community has a different tradition, a different need and different capacity. These artisan communities were linked to consumer communities of the locale and had domestic markets with local demand for products. According to United Nations, in the advent of globalization in India, since past 30 years, the number of Indian artisans has decreased by 30%, indicating the exigency to reinvest in artisans to safeguard history, culture and an important source of livelihood. Harnessing the potential of the artisan sector to preserve traditional craft, strengthen the sector, and improve the incomes of artisans requires different types of investments that should focus and build corner stone for artisans' sustainability. This book has been a contemporary attempt to review the scholarly literature on the status, position, cultural economics, green economics and ethnic production of Artisan ingeneral and Telangana artisans in particular. In this Globalized era (since 1991),a meaningful analysis of the Artisan sector requires focusing on particular geographies and crafts. This book is intended to give a comprehensive understanding of the current status of the Artisan sector in Telangana region of Southern India pertaining to Weaver, Potter and Blacksmith, it also absolutely essential to understand the Artisan value chain. The artisanal value chain depends on Human Resources, Legal Entities, Credit Facilities, Technology, Transport to markets, Quality checks, Marketing and Promotion of goods. Globalization has changed the need for localized activities and demand for products has also changed. This book is intended to explore the changing caste professions in relation to artisans in the specified locale especially for Pottery (skilled), Weaving(skilled) and Blacksmith (unskilled) in the context of Globalization.