IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section B

Abstract

The interaction between landscape, built environment, and human activities has had a significant influence on one another throughout human history. For example, weaving, an age-old traditional occupation in Bengal, has seen the emergence of various diverse weaving styles throughout the Bengal area. The Jamdani weaving tradition in Bengal is the last surviving form of the legendary Dhakai fine muslin. Once weaving Jamdani was entirely a family occupation, but currently, the practice has been expanded welcoming new weavers outside families in workshop settings. This research examines the relationship between the art of Jamdani weaving and its impact on human living spaces. By studying physical space, this study intends to understand the changes in the practice of jamdani weaving, how physical settings and users adapt to the changes, and how house forms claim their capacity of choices and access in order to know the relationship between culture, people, and place. In so doing, this paper compares two Jamdani weavers’ homesteads, that trace the influence of traditional family weaving and the adaptation of collective workshops weaving over the house forms, space organization, and everyday practices. Both homesteads are in the same Jamdani village, Kazipara yet they record the changing morphology of weavers’ homesteads in response to changed socio-economic dynamics. In one homestead, the family is weaving jamdani keeping it strictly a family business. The other homestead displays the transformed practice of workshop weaving focusing on mass production to meet the market demand and spreading the knowledge of Jamdani weaving among others. By comparing two homesteads, this research intends to understand how physical form allows us to understand the capacity of choice, access, and claim in the changing context of Jamdani weaving.