Indigenous Journeys

Increasingly, we are able to locate connections between people and places through various tangible and intangible modalities. As transnational tourism continues to grow, craft cultures tend to provide a deep-rooted sense of place. These craft cultures reflect the stories of the place and the way in which one views them. Craft cultures also are deeply embedded in the local context, truly celebrating the 'local'. However, in the global context, the value of 'local' and discussions on tracing origins have increased importance. I take this interest in craft cultures and placemaking and combine it with societal urgencies in how artisan communities are leveraging digital media to showcase not only their offerings but also own their representations of self in the process. In this project, I bring together interviews from multiple stakeholders- Tour organizers as storytellers, tourists as participants and artisans on the supply side to form a holistic enquiry intersecting creative tourism practices with craft cultures. In the process, I attempt to go back to the discussion of traceability and provenance of craft forms and how these story-bearing artefacts travel around the world. I research these concepts in the context of Indian cultural heritage.