Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Anthropology

First Advisor

Kelly Fayard

Second Advisor

Esteban Gomez

Keywords

Anthropology, Crafts, Handicrafts, Female creators

Abstract

Unlike the exploitative supply chains that exist under neoliberal globalization, where the social conditions of their supply chain are largely hidden; fair trade attempts to reveal the conditions of their supply chains through transparent marketing practices. Transparency is often presented in the form of storytelling wherein fair trade organizations (FTOs) reveal intimate details of the artisans they partner with to educate consumers on the interrelations of their product supply chains. I wanted to explore the implications of sharing artisan stories to further sales of the handicrafts they produced. How does sharing intimate stories of artisans formulate the perceptions Western consumers have upon artisan communities and the regions or countries in which they live? Further, how does storytelling play a role in Western consumers’ decisions to purchase handicrafts? I analyzed the marketing materials and interviewed participants from four FTOs: Ti-a Woven Goods, Fair Anita, Zeal living, and Ten Thousand Villages. My goal was to gain insight into how they incorporated storytelling, primarily through digital marketing, as a means of educating consumers.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Jessica Bradley

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

239 pgs

Discipline

Cultural anthropology

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