School of Social and Political Science

Description

Using the case study of a dorozome (mud-dyeing) workshop on Amami Ōshima island, this talk explores the complexity of sustaining regional craft, local community and the environment in contemporary Japan. It follows craftspeople producing yarn for the Ōshima tsumugi kimono cloth industry as they transition to naturally dyeing clothing and textiles for internationally renowned designers, who are responding to growing market demand for tradition and sustainability. While traditional craft appears to be the antithesis of the profit-driven standardisation of global textile commerce, this ethnographic study shows that Amamian producers face comparable social, economic, environmental, and bureaucratic pressures. The talk challenges idealised notions of sustainable craft and the role it can play in global design markets.