Reterritorialising Rural Handicrafts in Thailand and Vietnam: A View from the Margins of the Miracle

Katherine V Gough and Jonathan Rigg
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Katherine V Gough: Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, England; and Department of Geography & Geology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
Jonathan Rigg: Department of Geography, University of Durham, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, England

Environment and Planning A, 2012, vol. 44, issue 1, 169-186

Abstract: This paper explores the changing role and place of handicrafts in contemporary rural development processes. Building on fieldwork conducted in four settlements in northern Thailand and Vietnam, we discuss how a traditional sector is being reshaped under the forces of globalisation and what this means for the character of rural livelihoods. This empirical analysis permits us to reflect on wider areas of debate within development and economic geography. By examining the spatialities of production, we explore how the ‘place’ of handicrafts in the settlements is being reshaped. We show how, although handicraft production retains an image of being part of a traditional sector built around local skills and inputs, in reality the activities have become deterritorialised and are increasingly spatially dispersed. Nonetheless, handicraft production remains economically and socially embedded and is helping to sustain village economies both in situ and in distant locations.

Keywords: handicrafts; economic geography; space; Thailand; Vietnam (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:44:y:2012:i:1:p:169-186

DOI: 10.1068/a44175

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