Annapurna Mamidipudi: “Telling Color by Smell, Memory and Song: The Innovation of Traditional Craft in South India”

Rethinking Innovation, Textile and Material Culture
Dr. Annapurna Mamidipudi
(Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany)

Public Lecture: “Telling Color by Smell, Memory and Song:
The Innovation of Traditional Craft in South India”

Abstract
Craft producers in India stand in the shadow of deep divisions–rich/poor, urban/rural, modern/traditional, Brahmin/Dalit, educated scientist/illiterate labour, and so on. Based on practices of contemporary craftspeople in South India, this presentation explores the making and maintaining of knowledge claims as opportunity for political action: as a unifying device for cultural cohesion, as embodied cognition that engages both mind and body, and as tool for democracy and justice.

This event is co-sponsored by Harvey Goldberg Center of History Department, Center for Design and Material Culture at School of Human Ecology, Department of Art History