Systemic Design for Preferred Change - 1

THE SYSTEM OF STUDY

I have chosen to study the Indian Artisanal System. Below is the image based on my initial understanding of this System.

Q0 MOTIVATION TO STUDY THE SYSTEM 

I have been deeply interested in the role of Indian Crafts both as historical practice and as a valuable economy. Beyond the aesthetics and skill of the craft traditions, I often wonder what drives artisans to continue age-old practices even at a time when the artisanal system in our country is in absolute disarray. I feel compelled to believe that there is something beyond livelihood that sustains these choices, and it is in understanding these deeply held meanings that Artisanal practices can be rescued. 

Throughout history, India has had a culture of making and creating, where art and aesthetics have been closely intertwined with everyday living. While primarily crafts are a livelihood, they are also embedded within the nature and essence of the communities that practice them. Even though the culture of making is now reduced to a rural activity the crafts economy continues to remain the second biggest employment sector in the country. Lack of sustained governmental support and globalisation are main reasons stated while understanding the decline of the Indian craft industry. I find it hard to imagine that failed governmental policies or globalisation alone have set off this decline. Could it be that the path to this decay was systematically playing out with the many other choices we made as a nation, much before globalisation or mechanisation? 

ISSUES CONCERNS AND IDEAS

Our craft traditions are webbed, interconnected and interrelated. They stand for a way of living that was ecologically aware, cooperative and aesthetic. To develop sustenance frameworks that are purely economic in nature destroys the wholeness of the artisanal ecosystem itself. Economic frameworks do not take into consideration many factors like lived history or the experience of a people. For Example, the Kalamkari artists of Kaalahasti require flowing water of the river to wash and prepare the hand-painted cloth (The river flowing in this region is also the reason for the craft to emerge here craft in this way is symbiotic.) but the dams built upon the river have parched many parts of the area, and the artisans cannot practice Kalamkari without this crucial step. 

Hence, for two develop holistic support systems, do we need to rethink development and policy for this sector from the very essence of what artisanal practices unique like the ideas of interconnection, ecological awareness, and creation of everyday aesthetics? 

STRUCTURE / RUBRIC TO CRITIQUE THE SYSTEM

As art is an embedded, integrated and lived experience I chose to look at the progression of the economy through 2 frameworks - The Three Horizons and Causal Layered Analysis. This would help dwell into the deep metaphors that reside within this system. To understand the System I need to collect data from- 

1. Artisans representing communities that have been influenced by the introduction of technology / or face competition from mechanised products. 
2. Individuals and Large Organisations that are collaborating with the Artisanal System to understand the expertise and vision they bring to the Artisanal System. 
3. Collect data from varied publications and papers presented about Artisanal systems. 

THE LITANIES / DISCOURSE

1. The Indian Crafts sector is often referred to as a sunset economy. 
2. A UN report suggests that over the past three-four decades in India the number of artisans has declined by at least 30% with many joining the racks of casual labourers in the informal economy. 
3. Lack of education, competition from mechanised goods, poor governmental support systems, old production techniques are cited as reasons for the poor growth of the sector. 
4. Caste and aspiration of outward mobility are cited as reasons for the failure of the system. 
5. Lack of education is cited as reasons for lack of entrepreneurial capability of the Artisan. 

How can India which is second only to China in global handicraft trade, also be witnessing such high abandonment of craft traditions? What has resulted in this collapse? Many of the Artisans I spoke to confessed that after them there would be none to take the craft forward after their time, their children are educated and desire urban, white-collar jobs away from the poverty and neglect that they have witnessed growing up. This validates that the discourses I am hearing are true. There is indeed a deep wedge between the aspirations of the artisans and the vision of the policymakers and collaborating mechanisms. 

INITIAL HYPOTHESIS OF REASONS FOR DYSFUNCTION & POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Hypothesis 1: The act of making in the artisanal systems are deeply interwoven with the cultural mores of the community. It is the non-recognition of these deep subterranean cultural characteristics that have resulted in the lack of holistic and supportive policies and interventions being developed. 

Solution: Policy and interventions that restore the true essence of craft traditions rather than creating only economy /exchange/export will ensure continuity of practice. 

Hypothesis 2: While Indian handicrafts are exported all over the world, artisans struggle to navigate the domestic market, find relevance for their products. This is due to our conception of urban =modern.

Solution: Developing rural economies and fostering them as entrepreneurial clusters will cut migration, and create and preserve sustainable rural livelihoods. 

Hypothesis 3: The reason for the discontinuation of craft practices is not only the result of the lack of governmental support but also the growing divide between the artisan and his craft. 

Solution: The craft ecosystem has to be looked at through varied contexts like location, environment, ecology, community, traditions, etc. before any interventions are offered. If not looked at holistically, the artisan will lose the meaning of his craft.  

Hypothesis 4: The Varied systems that collaborate with the Artisanal system are disjointed in their visions or goals. Many of them have turned into hybrid middlemen. 

Solution: The vision of the collaborating systems needs to move beyond merely market/ generation.

Hypothesis 6: Introduction of technology in craft is not always necessarily bad. 

Solution: Technology should be introduced with care, rather than as be kept away completely. 

THINKING SYSTEMICALLY 

Thinking systemically in around the Artisanal system has led to into think about the Collaborative Systems as much as the core system of interest. I also see that what makes the Artisanal System unique is that livelihood, which is the facet that is most discussed, is merely a visible economic manifestation of the system. Varied factors such as traditions, cultural values, experience, artistic vision, caste, geographical moorings are embedded under the wings of Livelihood. One cannot study this complex system without being embroiled in the social or historical factors that have impacted it.