A cultural economic analysis of craft - book overview

This book came through via my Google Scholar alerts. Some of the discussions and material in the book, are relevant to my work on craftsmanship.

The book is edited by A. Mignosa and P. Kotipalli and published recently (2019) by Springer.

Cultural economics studies the contribution of craft to the economy, as well as society at large. Craft work is especially important to the non-industralised sectors of country economies. Craft work often being used by agricultural workers, to augment their income and also to support the longeavity of various cultural, religious and social practices.

The Westernised approach to craft has viewed craft as being inferior to the arts. Whereas in may Eastern countries, craftsmanship is still respected and often treasured as representations of cultural practices.

There are 21 chapters in the book divided into 4 sections.

The introduction by the editors, sets the context. The book sets out to provide examples of the role of cultural economics on understanding and analysing the craft sector. The traditional approaches are discussed, policies to avoid short term effects on craft culture are proposed to help ensure crafts culture is sustainable into the future.

Part 1 – Definitional issues

Defining craft : Hermeuneutics and economy by R. L Brulotte and M. J. R. Montoya. Takes on a qualitative definition. Acknowledging the socio-political-historical origins of viewing craft as an economic problem. Emphases the ‘meaning-making relations between human production, art, and concepts of skill and mastery’. Evaluates the ways craft are defined by various institutions.

Then I. Vencatachellum with ‘UNESCO approach to crafts’. UNESCO was the first UN agency to recognise the socio-cultural and economic role of crafts as the world moved into globalisation. UNESCO views crafts as cultural heritage with the creative industries connected to artisans.

P. Kotipally writes on ‘making sense of craft using cultural economics’ brings the book back to the ‘cultural economics’ aspect. 

Part 2 – policies for craft

The chapter on ‘policies for crafts: rationale and tools’ by A. Mignosa is followed by chapters discussing country contexts.  These are ‘crafts in China’ by L. Jiang;  F. Cominelli with ‘arts and crafts policies: heritage vs economics in France’; T. Fjeldsted with ‘ Handwerk: crafts and trades in Germany’; R. Sethi provides ‘the building of craft policy in India’; followed by K. Goto on ‘craft policies in Japan’; ‘crafts in the Netherlands: from an economic to a value-based perspective’ by M. Hofland-Mol and M. Poortvliet; J. Bennett on ‘craft policies in the UK’ and the last chapter in this section with M. J. R. Montoya on ‘craft: economic policies in the United States 1896-2006.

The next section is on ‘economic issues’ with 4 chapters.

S. Ellis and J. Lo on ‘an economic assessment of Asian crafts’. Then, J. Ballyn with ‘a cultural economic analysis of craft: A view from the workshop of the world’. A.  Chatterjee writes on ‘the invisible giant: economics of artisanal activity in India’. Lastly, S. Ellis with ‘measuring the economics of traditional craft production’

The last section is on ‘future development’, also with 4 chapters.

These are ‘The importance of craft culture’ by A. Klamer;  L. Guiliano with ‘design and craft: the practitioners’ view’; ‘Material is the mother of innovation’ with M. H. G. Kuipers and the last chapter by J. Frater on ‘education for artisans: beginning a sustainable future for craft traditions’.

Overall, the chapters provide another perspective on the importance of craftwork. In particular, the economic contributions accrued from participation in craftwork across different societies. The discussions on the importance of craftwork and their contributions, provide good rationale for the support for understanding how craft skills and learnt and taught.