Wild craft : wooden cargo ships of South India

2023

Ouvrage

Vidal Denis, Dhandapani B., Sricandane G.

Marseille (FRA) ; Pondichéry : IRD ; IFP, 2023, 369 p. ISBN 978-81-8470-249-1

Giant wooden cargo ships that braved the oceans thousands of years back are still being made in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Even when metal motorised ships became the norm, some shoreline communities in South India continue to make these wooden cargo ships. This is the story of these ships and the people who craft them. The South Indian state of Tamil Nadu has a long maritime tradition. Its onnections spanned East and West. Fishing communities during colonial times made small barges. These barges provided loading and unloading support to large cargo vessels which could not enter shallow ports. The end of the colonial era changed the economic landscape with the emergence of large ports and containerisation. Yet some ship building communities negotiated the emerging environment with their technological innovation, collaborative work and good business sense. By increasing the size of the wooden sailing barges and by motorising them later, these innovative ship builders and entrepreneurs found new markets where their skills could be adapted and put to profitable use.In a successful blend of reason, creativity and persistent hard work the communities engineered their past to create a successful future. The book traces the transition of this tradition in detail over time. The authors have created an extensive photo documentation using hundreds of images which capture the atmosphere of the shipyard and to offer a visual narrative. Through visual anthropology it offers an anthology of wooden cargo ship building and craftsmanship.

Pêches artisanales [040SOCPEC01] ; Anthropologie [106ANTHRO1] ; Technologie, transfert de technologie [116TECHNO]

Fonds IRD [F A010090498]

fdi:010090498