Contemporary Production and Transmission of Resist-Dyed and Block-Printed Textiles in Kachchh District, Gujarat

This article analyses how a traditional craft reliant on intensive labour by hand survives in a post-colonial, industrialised society. It delineates strategies adopted by particular craftsmen and policies implemented by state agencies and non-governmental organisations that have made the craft viable.

By triangulating the insights of informants, it identifies successful adaptations of traditional practice. Developed through collaboration with an hereditary caste of printers and dyers, it draws together historical sources, oral history, and personal interviews to create a coherent narrative of contemporary production. In this respect it presents a nuanced account of a craft at a time when craft in India is precarious.

The article represents the first time that Khatri dyers have been actively involved in the documentation of their own caste and craft. It presents an analysis of the current situation from several perspectives, including that of practising artisans, and places oral history and recent technological adaptations against an historical background extending back to Harappan civilisation (2500-1700 BCE).

This article draws on interviews with an extended family of Khatris conducted in the Gujarat over sixteen years. Primary data were allied to literary searches and archival work in India, Europe and the USA.

Eiluned Edwards

Current research

I am currently working on three projects: a book entitled Textiles and Dress of Gujarat to be published by Mapin Publishing (India) with V&A Publishing in 2010; research on the regional production of saris for an exhibition entitled Simply Sari to be held at the Textile Research Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands in 2010 for which I am writing the catalogue; and collecting oral histories among block printers and dyers of western India.

Recent research

I have recently completed a programme of research funded by the British Academy and the Laura and Luigi Dallapiccola Foundation with printers and painters in Srikalahasti and Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, printers in Jaipur, Bagru and Sanganer in Rajasthan, and printers in Gujarat. I also carried out research with indigo farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The project has been developed in collaboration with artisans at these sites with technical input from Dr Ismail Mohammad Khatri. The material will be developed in to a book but has already been disseminated through conference papers, journal articles and other publications.

• http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/be...