CARPET WEAVERS AND WEAVING IN THE ... - Cornell University

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less “but not substantially less” than those in poorer households. In the most well-off households weaving generated one fourth of the income whereas in the poorest it constituted one-half of the total household income (1986, 186). Her research demonstrates that paid work as a weaver did not foster gender equality since the labor fit into the pre-existing cultural framework and men controlled the product of said labor (Berik 1986, 236). Women did not have control over whether or not they wove (labor power), over the product of their labor, their income or the spending of said income, and thus weaving for pay did not increase their autonomy or enhance their position; weaving was not so much a “choice” as a “duty” as a woman in the household (Berik 1986, 226), contradicting Gumen’s prediction that weaving for sale would call into question the linkage between weaving and household responsibilities (Gumen 1987). Women also did not choose the production system that they worked under (Berik 1986, 229). Even if women were not able to choose the system of production, numerous types of production may be present in a single village. This examination of conditions did not, however, consider the differential effect on women’s lives of weaving in the home versus weaving outside of the home in regard to aspects other than control of labor and the product thereof. Kimberly Hart (2005) also weighed in on these issues. She began her anthropological research in 1998 in Orselli village in the Yuntdag region of Western Anatolia. This village is the center of the Yuntdag cooperative of the DOBAG project and mainly focused on examining women’s lives through the practice of weaving and the institution of marriage. The Dogal Boya Arastirma ve Gelistirme Projesi (DOBAG) was established by German scientist Harold Bohmer in 1981 as a means of reviving natural dye traditions and generating cash income in subsistence-level agricultural villages in Western Turkey (Anderson 1998, 6). Bohmer’s cooperatives 28
were formed with an eye towards family rivalries; each major group had their own cooperative (Anderson 1998, 7). Thus, the DOBAG cooperatives have not dissolved due to the contention that normally destroys such enterprises and were still in operation in 2005. Hart notes the division between tradition and tradition-as- marketing-tool that her informants see in their lives. Her main focus is young women and the construct of “modernity” versus that of “tradition” and their relationship to economic development. A major emphasis of this dissertation is on the “uniqueness” of Orselli village, which “stems in part from the fact that it is the center of a women’s carpet weaving cooperative” (Hart 2005, 348). Though women are members of the cooperative, management is in the hands of the men of the village. Thus the structure can be put in a female-empowerment light for customers, but essentially functions as “an extended family in and across the villages” (Hart 2005, 355). Hart agrees with Berik (in opposition to Gumen, Landreau, and Incirlioglu) that weaving in the home is not “alienating” in the manner of workshop labor since it is done in the context of other chores (Hart 2005, 146). In both villages with traditional weaving structures and those in which weaving was introduced as an income-generation activity, “carpet weaving is superimposed on the existing sexual division of labor as women’s work” (Berik 1986, 236). In a traditional-patriarchal context, weaving is not seen as “labor,” but as another chore that falls to a woman as her responsibility to the household “weaving as non-work” leads to women’s labor being undervalued (Landreau 1996, 171). Even so, the value of daughters has increased. They are able to bring cash into their parents’ homes whereas sons are starting to leave extended family homes earlier in order to establish their own households (Gumen 1989, 159). This value to their parents has led to women getting married later (Incirioglu 1991). Through such mechanisms as these, 29
Page 1 and 2: CARPET WEAVERS AND WEAVING IN THE G
Page 3 and 4: ABSTRACT The purpose of this study
Page 5 and 6: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Born in Boston,
Page 7 and 8: TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introd
Page 9 and 10: LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Geometri
Page 11 and 12: CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This thesis
Page 13 and 14: university professors, and governme
Page 15 and 16: 2.1 Introduction CHAPTER 2 REVIEW O
Page 17 and 18: fact the last guarantors of the sur
Page 19 and 20: Low wages and exploitation of worke
Page 21 and 22: of the informal economy, slipping t
Page 23 and 24: weavers and weavers to the market,
Page 25 and 26: about the history and significance
Page 27 and 28: unaccompanied by men of the family
Page 29 and 30: that we don’t do in this village
Page 31 and 32: ural areas, though in some areas by
Page 33 and 34: 2.4.1 Modes of production Past rese
Page 35 and 36: encouraged to work long hours (Beri
Page 37: ‘inevitability’ of such work as
Page 41 and 42: I therefore propose that Turkish ca
Page 43 and 44: Figure 2.4 "Aged" Milas carpets Not
Page 45 and 46: maintain high quality weaving that
Page 47 and 48: purchase carpets from men of weavin
Page 49 and 50: well as the condition of the villag
Page 51 and 52: always an option (and even when it
Page 53 and 54: 2.6 Conclusion This chapter has sho
Page 55 and 56: later analysis and comparison. Addi
Page 57 and 58: improper use of the recording devic
Page 59 and 60: ministry had not been able to prese
Page 61 and 62: Figure 3.2 Carpets woven for first
Page 63 and 64: sent from Turkey to China and the c
Page 65 and 66: The manager was interviewed using t
Page 67 and 68: 3.6.1 Comlekci The population of Co
Page 69 and 70: Feslegen was a village of 498 in 20
Page 71 and 72: An interview, using the same list o
Page 73 and 74: villages, and the Export Promotion
Page 75 and 76: following both geometric and curvil
Page 77 and 78: Figure 3.12 Geometric carpets for s
Page 79 and 80: 4.1 Introduction CHAPTER 4 RESULTS
Page 81 and 82: different sections of a carpet at t
Page 83 and 84: Figure 4.2 Dowry carpets in house i
Page 85 and 86: competition from countries with low
Page 87 and 88: governmentally mandated eighth-grad
Page 89 and 90:
income. Carpets are bought by Sumer
Page 91 and 92:
areas where weaving is only a low-s
Page 93 and 94:
colors with which they weave. In th
Page 95 and 96:
University found that weavers in th
Page 97 and 98:
Workshop production is somewhat dif
Page 99 and 100:
Figure 4.8a Handwoven carpets, prob
Page 101 and 102:
ideas of interior design influencin
Page 103 and 104:
dealers offer better prices in orde
Page 105 and 106:
given area). The higher the skill o
Page 107 and 108:
unlikely to be receiving Social Sec
Page 109 and 110:
The wide variety of places across t
Page 111 and 112:
5.1 Introduction CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY
Page 113 and 114:
continued lightening affirms findin
Page 115 and 116:
5.2.3 In what ways is the Turkish g
Page 117 and 118:
supporting micro- to macro-enterpri
Page 119 and 120:
farther east with lower labor and m
Page 121 and 122:
could also investigate whether weav
Page 123 and 124:
How did you learn to weave? (How ol
Page 125 and 126:
Do you think that this is a fair wa
Page 127 and 128:
Cohen, Jeffrey H. “Textile Produc
Page 129 and 130:
Landreau, Anthony. “Anatolian Rug
Page 131 and 132:
_________. “Export Markets and Th
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