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The Evolution of Market Niches in Oaxacan Woodcarving

2000; University of Pittsburgh; Volume: 39; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3774108

2160-3510

Michael Chibnik,

Global trade, sustainability, and social impact

Economic anthropologists studying craft commercialization have typically focused on changes in work organization associated with new international commodity chains linking artisans, development organizations, wholesalers, and store owners. Few researchers, however, have carefully examined the product differentiation that ordinarily accompanies increased craft sales. Artisans in such circumstances typically innovate and develop specialties in an attempt to establish a niche for themselves in a complex economic environment. Such market segmentation resembles the later stages of product life cycles described in the business literature and is somewhat analogous to the proliferation of equilibrium species in mature or climax stages of ecological successions. This article examines the evolution of market niches in commercial woodcarvings in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Specialization is the result of both market demands and the initiative of artisans. The artisans do not have total freedom in their attempts to create market niches. They are restricted by their abilities and the labor and capital they can mobilize. (Craft commercialization, specialization, woodcarving, Mexico) The commercialization of craft production is an integral part of development programs in many rural areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. State agencies and NGOs promote artisanry in an attempt to provide economic aid to rural residents whose agricultural earnings are limited by small plots, low crop prices, and poor soils. Craft sales can enable households to meet subsistence needs and increase incomes even where land is scarce or unevenly divided. Artisanal production may provide rural men and women with an economic alternative to migration to crowded urban areas. Economic anthropologists studying craft commercialization have usually focused on changes in work organization associated with new commodity chains linking rural artisans, development organizations, wholesalers, and store owners (e.g., Nash 1993b; Steiner 1994:40-60; Tice 1995). Entrepreneurs making and marketing crafts have set up workshops with hired laborers and established putting-out systems where piece workers at home use materials provided by merchants. Such changes have led anthropologists (e.g., Cook 1993; Kearney 1996:165-69; Stephen 1991) to write about the extent to which rural artisans are able to maintain autonomy as they become increasingly integrated into a global economy. Few economic anthropologists, however, have carefully examined the product differentiation that ordinarily accompanies craft commercialization. Rural artisans selling crafts typically innovate and develop specialties in their attempts to establish niches for themselves in a complex economic environment. The market segmentation associated with increased artisan sales resembles the later stages of product life cycles described in the business literature and is somewhat analogous to the proliferation of equilibrium species in mature or climax stages of ecological succession. This essay examines the evolution of market niches in commercial woodcarvings in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.(1) Over the past two decades artisans have developed specialties in their efforts to appeal to a diverse clientele. Some make expensive, labor-intensive carvings for collectors; others churn out cheap pieces for gift shops in the United States and for tourists seeking souvenirs. Artisans vary in their painting and carving styles and the size of their pieces. They make animals, human figures, devils, angels, frames, chairs, tables, and ox carts. I have seen carvings of Benito Juarez, subcomandante Marcos (the Zapatista leader), chupacabras (imaginary beings that eat goats), Martians, mermaids, and helicopters. The diverse economic strategies carvers have pursued in recent years are the result of a segmented market in the United States and Mexico that promotes novelty and rewards specialization. …