Considering Traditional Ethnic
Handicrafts in the Era of Globalization
A Case Study of Turkish Carpets
Ulara TAMURA (Ph.D.)
Project Assistant Professor Center for Cultural Resource Studies, Kanazawa University, Japan
Aim of
CCRS The Aim of Center for Cultural Resource Studies
★ 文化資源学とは
経済開発やグローバリゼーションの進展で 変化を余儀なくされている
世界各地の有形・無形の 文化「財」・文化「遺産」を 新たな価値を創造するための 文化「資源」ととらえなおし、
その総合的・多角的な研究と
保護・継承・活用法の開発をめざす。
• To redefine tangible and
intangible cultural heritages and properties as “cultural resources”
of all the human beings to create a new value
• To conduct comprehensive researches and diverse
investigations on them, and
develop methods to protect and utilize them.
established in 2011
CCRS
Divisions Divisions of Center for Cultural Resource Studies
CCRS
★ 文化資源学とは
経済開発やグローバリゼーションの進展で 変化を余儀なくされている
世界各地の有形・無形の 文化「財」・文化「遺産」を 新たな価値を創造するための 文化「資源」ととらえなおし、
その総合的・多角的な研究と
保護・継承・活用法の開発をめざす。
Tangible Cultural Resources
Intangible Cultural Resources
Cultural Resource Information
Cultural Resource
Why “Cultural Resource” ?
In the context of globalization, culture often becomes causes of conflicts.
Especially in Asian countries, where people experience rapid
development of economy, there are acute needs for contemporary
utilization of traditional cultural resources in the context of
development of tourism.
Utilization of Culture for Multicultural Co-living
There are growing needs for the
utilization of local “culture” as globally opened culture for all the human
beings.
Education Graduate Program for Cultural Resource Management
8 students from 5 countries study as a team for five years in English
Through the working hard together in the multicultural environment, we are to train globally leading managers of cultural resources
with decent skills in management, facilitating and networking.
Working for Cultural Administrations, International Organizations, NPO, NGO etc…
Establishment of Global Networks of CRM
Education The Characteristic of the Education
Studying both in Classroom and in Fields
Classroom Field
CONSIDERING TRADITIONAL ETHNIC HANDICRAFTS
IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION
A Case Study of Turkish Carpets
Introduc)on
Turkish carpets:
“globalized” local/ ethnic goods
Aim：to illustrate the dynamic local process of accommoda3on to global market economy, then to discuss how cultural resources can sustain themselves in this globaliza3on era.
General Interest and questions
• How traditional / local goods can stay alive in the global modernity?
– What are the usually overlooked demerits of common interest of protection of “traditional”
cultural materials?
– How can people adjust there village lives in the inevitable effect of cash economy?
– Why it is important to pay attantion to their production process and customary use?
The History of ‘ Globalization ’ of Turkish Carpets
→ Gentile Bellini Madonna and Child Enthroned. (1470?)
National Gallery, London
・神聖さと結合
↓Hans Holbein
The Ambassadors.(1533)
• Industrial revolu)on ⇒ growth of middle class ==
started to take an important role as consumers.
• Mass produced goods penetrated into everywhere.
⇒Growing a=en)on to something “handmade” or
“unique.”
• Oriental Carpets, which had been a kind of status symbol was fascina)ng for the new middle class.
• ☜ But short on supply by the village produc)ons.
William Morris
（1834-1896)
Industrial Revolu)on and Carpet Boom
European capital flowed into the Ottoman Empire
Realization of mass production, but sudden drop of the quality of carpets, caused by the capitalistic factory
management
DOBAG Project: Revitaliza)on of Natural Dyed Carpets 1
• Started in 1981, by a German
chemistry teacher Harold Boemer, with Marmara University’s
coopera)on.
• Developed the “recipe” of natural dye for yarns, trained women as weavers in two villages.
• Detailed manual and highly strict quality control system enabled to establish the high-‐value-‐added brand. ［Anderson 1998]
Advertising as protection of nomad tradition & women empowerment
http://www.dobag-teppiche.de/
DOBAG Project: Revitaliza)on of Natural Dyed Carpets 2
But on the other hand,,,
• Only married women who live in the two villages can join to the DOBAG coopera)ve. Unmarried girls are subjected to unpaid labor under her mother, or has completely no interest in it.
• Highly strict control system disable them to add weavers’
original taste and to own the final products . It deprived the joy in the produc)on process.
Alianation from the labor and from the products Marginalization
The dilemma of “tradition”
• Fixed traits to distinguish from others
– no personal invention – no interaction with the
actual living scene of the locals
⇒It stops the path of
sophistication, and work becomes just a repetitive reproduction
• Problem of ownership and authenticity
– inevitably causes similar but marginalized
categories of things and people
– who and how to decide what is “authentic” and
“right”?
• Extravagant price for the locals
Alienation from labor and final products, fixation of ‘tradition’
1999 MAGELLAN Geographix www.maps.comより
Milas Region, Turkey
Traditional Production Area of Turkish Carpets
Milas Region and Bozalan Village
Milas city (approx.
38,000 of population, 2006) In about 80 villages in the
South of Milas, carpets are produced.
Bozalan Village：
• Population: 443
• Households：135 (2005)
• Subsistence 1.olive growing 2.carpet weaving
3.male migrant workers in a tourist city nearby
www.milas.bel.tr
Bozalan Village （2005)
Carpet Production in Milas Region
• Women’s work at home
• All the women in villages are skilled with carpet
production
• Sales:
households→dealers
→inside/outside of Turkey
Successful sustainable case: BOZALAN
Documentary “BOZALAN”
• Ethnographic Documentary, 38 minutes. Filmed in 2006 and released in 2008.
• Camera and editing by John Wells.
• Research, editing and
translation by Ulara Tamura.
bozalan.com
Key for Sustaining the Quality
Social Embeddedness of…
• 1. Production
– Labor exchange
– Helping each other
• 2. Consumption
– Customary use
＋ Economical importance in the households
Labor Exchange: yamak�
yamak
Exchange of one-day
labors between partner
households, for the weaving process, strictly based on one-to-one relations
between households Household A
Household B
Household C
Weave up a carpet for B in 22 days Weave up a carpet for A in 30 days
A owes 8 days to B, 30 days to C
B lets A owe 8 days debt owes 22 days to C C lets A owe 30 days debt,
lets B owe 22 days debt
The Network of Yamak and its Logic�
¨ Yamak partnarship is a network type of rela)onship based on one-‐to-‐one household rela)onships; there is nothing like “yamak groups”, nor the center of the rela)onship.
¨ Each households have 3-‐12 (avg. 5-‐6) yamak partner households.
¨ “Debts” are taken for granted between partners, so there is no nega)ve emo)onal pressures for it, and they are not oriented to become zero.
¨ Despite the in)macy, everybody has quite deciplined aatudes for work, being afraid of losing the bonds.
By embedding the production of carpets, which are sellable, into their existing private intimate relationships, they make it possible that they keep their tedious production with joy and in responsible way.
Helping Each Other:
Yarn Washing
8：30a.m.to noon, June 2006. 21women and 6 girls gathered to help a houshold wash 110kg of yarn.
Local Consumption
• Commodity (the source of cash income)
• Daily utensil
• A way of stocking of wealth
• Dowry item
• Donation for
a village mosque
• Private token
Bringing dowry into a marital family
Dowries to be moved
out of brides ’ houses
Bringing dowry into marital family
The Various Phases of Local Consump3on
commodity tokens
way of stocking wealth
daily use
Dowry
Cash turns to other dowry items
Carpets
To the new household with the bride
→redifined
sold
Summary of Discussions
1. Carpet making in the region mediates the social life of village women.
2. Carpet making are mo)vated both by cash economy and by local customary/ pres)gious usage.
3. The variety and flexibility of local usage of carpets, as well as their constant candidacy of commodity, keeps the carpet produc)on alive in the local context.
(4. The superb balance between ‘global’ and ‘local’ should be empirically demonstrated. )
• Overlooked common demerits of
protection or revitalization of “traditional”
cultural materials: fixation of tradition and alienation.
• Turkish Carpets have been evolved both by the local and global consump)on process.
• Carpet making in the studied region
mediates the social life of village women.
• The importance of a carpet’s mul)-‐roles for the producers; not only as commodity, but also local cultural or socio-‐economic
en))es. It supports the mo)va)on of keep and improve the quality of their products.
Market Economy
Carpet
Production
Life-world of the locals
⇒ Development of a certain system of suppor)ng dynamic interac)on of the life-‐world of the locals and produc)on of “tradi)onal” handicrags
《Bibliography》
• 坂本勉 2003『ペルシア絨毯の道〜モノが語る社会史〜』 historia第17
巻、山川出版社
• 田村うらら 2013『トルコ絨毯が織りなす社会生活ーグローバルに流
通するモノをめぐる民族誌』、世界思想社
• Anderson, June. 1998, Return to Tradi1on: The Revitaliza1on of Turkish Village Carpets. California Academy of Sciences
• Faroqhi, Suraiya. 1984, “Towns and townsmen of O?oman Anatolia-‐
Trade, craDs and food produc1on in an urban seFng, 1520-‐1650”
Cambridge University Press
• Izmidlian, Georges.1977, Oriental Rugs and Carpets Today―How to Choose and Enjoy Them. N.Y.: Hippocrane Books.
• Quataert, Donald 1993, ‘O?oman manufacturing in the age of the industrial revolu1on’ Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993
• Quataert, Donald. 1986, “Machine Breaking and the Changing Carpet Industry of Western Anatolia, 1860-‐1908,” Journal of Social History, Spring
Thank you for your kind attention.
