The lace makers of Narsapur : Indian housewives produce for the world market

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.;Lacemakers\_\_prelims.indd; Lacemakers\_ch01.indd; Lacemakers\_ch02.indd; Lacemakers\_ch03.indd; Lacemakers\_ch04.indd; Lacemakers\_ch05.indd; Lacemakers\_ch06.indd; Lacemakers\_ch07.indd; Lacemakers\_ch08.indd; Lacemakers\_ch09.indd; Lacemakers\_x-biblio.indd; Lacemakers\_y-appendix.indd.

A sensitive and groundbreaking study of women, this examination of globalization in India provides a fascinating case study of its effects on female workers in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Originally published in 1982, the book is an important insight into a group dispossessed before the recent economic boom in India. It details the way in which women have been used to produce luxury goods for the Western market while they are not counted as workers or producers in their fragmented workplaces. Instead, these women are defined as nonworking housewives and their work as leisure activity. With rates of pay far below acceptable levels, pauperization is accelerated and their position in Indian society rapidly deteriorates. An invaluable analysis with implications on the global stage, the case of the lace makers continues to instruct on the real impact of industrial development.

"The lace makers show the way. The conditions under which they worked never disappeared, as we can see now. Indeed these conditions have returned to the rich countries of the West from where they were exported." From the 2012 Preface The Lace Makers of Narsapur is a sensitive and groundbreaking study of women at the beginning of the process of globalisation. Maria Mies examines the way in which women are used to produce luxury goods for the Western market and simultaneously not counted as workers or producers in their fragmented workplaces. Instead they are defined as 'non-working housewive Lacemakers__prelims.indd 2 Lacemakers_ch01.indd 24 Lacemakers_ch02.indd 34 Lacemakers_ch03.indd 53 Lacemakers_ch04.indd 75 Lacemakers_ch05.indd 82 Lacemakers_ch06.indd 104 Lacemakers_ch07.indd 189 Lacemakers_ch08.indd 198 Lacemakers_ch09.indd 218 Lacemakers_x-biblio.indd 229 Lacemakers_y-appendix.indd 233 A graphic illustration of how women bear the impact of development processes in countries where poor peasant and tribal societies are being 'integrated' into an international division of labor under the dictates of capital accumulation.