Lace Makers of Narsapur: Indian Housewives Produce for the World Market

by M. Mies

Before the latest 'economic boom' in India there were a number of processes of dispossession. The dispossession of farmers through the 'green revolution' and alongside it, the dispossession of women, the lace makers of Narsapur in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

196 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1982

Reviews

[Sukriti · Rating 5 out of 5]

an example of groundbreaking research for its time; mies draws fine connections between the exploitation and invisibilization of women's work and their 'housewification' by capitalist hunger for endless, cheap, atomised labour and the contradictions of rich exporters and increased poverty of the producers. at its core rests the idea that international corporate success stories have been realised owing to someone else's time and labour, often (poor, rural) women (and men).
additional interesting ideas: most rural women spend a majority of their income on the household (rarely ever for themselves), lack of leisure time and no sense of entitlement to leisure either, how global commodity chains connect the richest to the poorest, etc.
research ideas have been conveyed in very concise ways, the book is simple, largely non-jargon writing. the copy i read printed in typewriter/courier font, felt like i was in 1982.