Networking Peripheries - Response

Enterprise Village: Intellectual Property and Rural Optimization – Anita Say Chan

Area 1:

   This week's reading from Anita Say Chan tells the story of Chulucanas, a town in northern Peru, as it relates to the process of gaining IP rights for ceramics. While the supposed intent of this was to promote artisan products and protect ancestral traditions, experiences of wage-exploitation, accusations of betrayal, and general distrust was the outcome instead. Chulucanas is not an isolated anomaly either, as international governing bodies have encouraged and advocated for developing nations to take advantage of the potential an IP could give their local resources. In the case of Chulucanas and it's ceramics, the artifactual nature of their "product" was eventually lost, as these items began to become commonplace in tourist markets and souvenir shops.

Area 2:

   What I found most interesting as I read this article was the predatory nature behind the inception of export markets like these. Surely, the act of campaigning for the commercialization of these cultural traditions was not entirely selfless, and it shows in how this tradition turned into a marketable product itself; the integrity of the ceramics was modified into something marketable to western ideas. This is also evident in the ways in which the culture behind the creation of these ceramics shifted as the western ideologies of business integrated themselves into the process. As I read the news today, I can't help but make a vague connection between this situation and how businesses in the U.S. are treading lightly with pleasing the Chinese market amidst the Hong Kong protest scandals. Although each of these situations have very different implications, they both touch on how export markets can be affected by global influence.


https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/10/china-anger-over-hong-kong-ensnares-apple-nba-activision-blizzard.html