Digital Platforms and Craft Workers in India in the Time of COVID

Abstract

The COVID-19 lockdown situation has raised important socio-economic issues within the craft industry in India. This paper specifically proposes to discuss to what extent the pandemic has strengthened the use of digital platforms and accelerated certain reconfiguration processes within the craft industry. E-commerce platforms have been recently investing in this sector, from local entrepreneurs’ initiatives and governmental interventions to large e-commerce platforms (Amazon, Flipkart etc.). The idea is to examine the adaptation of work dynamics in a largely informal and precarious sector, the changes in terms of platform strategies, and the way in which the pandemic may have reinforced processes of dependency on certain digital players. Based on the case of the craft industry in India’s North-East region, this paper will rely on qualitative methodology associating document analysis and fieldwork conducted before the lockdown in February 2020 in Assam, and followed by online interviews conducted after several months of lockdown.

Keywords

• Assam
• digital platforms
• craft industry
• artisans
• local entrepreneurs
• COVID-19