The Art of Connection: Risk, Mobility, and the Crafting of Transparency in Coastal Kenya (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780520292895)

The Art of Connection narrates the individual stories of artisans and traders of Kenyan arts and crafts as they overcome the loss of physical access to roadside market space by turning to new digital technologies to make their businesses more mobile and integrated into the global economy. Bringing together the studies of globalization, development, art, and communication, the book illuminates the lived experiences of informal economies and shows how traders and small enterprises balance new risks with the mobility afforded by digital technologies. An array of ethnic and generational politics have led to market burnings and witchcraft accusations as Kenya's crafts industry struggles to adapt to its new connection to the global economy. To mediate the resulting crisis of trust, the Fair Trade sticker and other NGO aesthetics continue to successfully represent a transparent, ethical, and trusting relationship between buyer and producer. Dillon Mahoney shows that by balancing revelation and obfuscation--what is revealed and what is not--Kenyan art traders make their own roles as intermediaries and the exploitative realities of the global economy invisible.

Author: Dillon Mahoney
ISBN-10: 0520292898
ISBN-13: 9780520292895
Publisher: University of California Press
Language: English
Published: 01/17/2017
Pages: 264
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.87lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.60d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 09/01/2017