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WORLD ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNION

CONGRESS 2024​

Paper

Selling Handlooms. Preserving Handlooms : Gendered Digital Retailing on Social Media

presenters

    Nilika Mehrotra

    Nationality: Indian

    Residence: India

    Jawaharlal Nehru University

    Presence:Face to Face/ On Site

Keywords:

Sale, Preservation, Retail, Social Media, Handlooms, Gender

Abstract:

This paper examines the slow but steady emergence of women retail sellers on the Indian Social Media, who are not only selling handlooms but claim to preserve the handlooms by exclusively promoting on it. By focussing on few case studies of entrepreneurs and sellers , we'll discuss how digital technology helped them to build small businesses over last five years or so. Social Media like Face book and Instagram have emerged as very important e. commerce sites in last one decades or so. The study emerged out of a digital ethnography using participant observation in last year and a half, looking at the work of few women sellers who are either entrepreneurs or retail sellers on Facebook through their live shows. Interestingly these shows result in sale in a quick fashion and making enduring socialites. The sellers are articulate, confident and creative individuals who have a good sense of the market, fashion and social trends. One of the key ways they connect to the buyers by selling the idea of preserving handlooms and promoting them in the everyday lives of women. Gender and class are important factors in this process. Most of the buyers are middle aged, middle class women who are either professionals or home makers. There are familial and friendly connections are being built between the sellers and buyers as evident in the informal conversations during the Live shows. This scenario is interesting as to some extent it excludes or marginalises men and these are all women events.