Reweaving Technology and Culture: Rethinking Indian Handlooms through an Anthropological Lens
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Abstract
This essay explores how handloom weaving in India can be understood not just as a traditional craft, but as a dynamic and socially embedded technological practice. Drawing on long-term fieldwork with weaving communities in West Bengal, the author reflects on how earlier studies often treated technology as a force that shaped culture from the outside—overlooking the ways in which people, tools, practices, and institutions co-evolve. By focusing on the lived experiences of weavers and the material culture of the loom, the essay highlights the importance of seeing handloom weaving as part of a broader social world, shaped by innovation and local knowledge. It calls for more inclusive and anthropologically informed approaches to studying technology, particularly in the context of artisanal traditions, and offers a critical reflection on how we understand craft, labour, and change in contemporary India.
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