Repositioning Handicraft Ecosystems in Modern Education Pedagogies: The Case of Kachchh in India

Issue #008, 2021                                                                              ISSN: 2581- 9410

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The land of Kachchh district in Gujarat, India, is a mosaic of diverse landscapes, people, and ethnic communities, mainly nomadic pastoralists who have settled here within the last century. These “living histories” have contributed a tremendous amount of knowledge through their cultures and traditions that are practiced even today- making Kachchh, a hub of handicrafts. Crafts originated to fulfil the societal and cultural needs of the communities living together. For example, the Kumbhar (potter) community fashioned their pots using locally found clay in different shapes, sizes and painted motifs depending on which subset of the Maldhari (pastoral) community it was meant for. This was based on the subset’s belief systems, their requirements during their herding journeys and the products (such as milk or its by-products like butter, curd, etc) that they needed to store. Doiya, a pot used by camel herders to collect milk. Since milking a camel is a difficult task, a doiya wa...