The Art of Connection : Risk, Mobility, and the Crafting of Transparency in Coastal Kenya / Dillon Mahoney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mahoney, Dillon, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Business communication--Kenya--Mombasa.

Business communication.

Artisans--Kenya--Mombasa.

Artisans.

Handicraft--Technological innovations--Kenya--Mombasa.

Handicraft.

Digital communications--Kenya--Mombasa.

Digital communications.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The Art of Connection narrates the individual stories of artisans and traders of Kenyan arts and crafts as they overcome the loss of physical access to roadside market space by turning to new digital technologies to make their businesses more mobile and integrated into the global economy. Bringing together the studies of globalization, development, art, and communication, the book illuminates the lived experiences of informal economies and shows how traders and small enterprises balance new risks with the mobility afforded by digital technologies. An array of ethnic and generational politics have led to market burnings and witchcraft accusations as Kenya's crafts industry struggles to adapt to its new connection to the global economy. To mediate the resulting crisis of trust, the Fair Trade sticker and other NGO aesthetics continue to successfully represent a transparent, ethical, and trusting relationship between buyer and producer. Dillon Mahoney shows that by balancing revelation and obfuscation-what is revealed and what is not-Kenyan art traders make their own roles as intermediaries and the exploitative realities of the global economy invisible.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

1. Th e Art of Connection: An Introduction

2. Mombasa Marginalized: Claims to Land and Legitimacy in a Tourist City

3. Crafts Traders versus the State

4. Negotiating Informality in Mombasa

5. New Mobilities, New Risks

6. Crafting Ethical Connection and Transparency in Coastal Kenya

7. From Ethnic Brands to Fair Trade Labels

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2017.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 20. Sep 2019)

ISBN:

9780520966239

0520966236

OCLC:

954720086