Social influence has long been known to be a powerful determinant of individuals’ behavior. In collectivist societies such as rural Base of the Pyramid (BoP) communities, social influence can play an active role in the performances of need-based Do-It-Yourself (DIY) practices for survival. Several scholars have studied DIY communities though Ryan and Deci’s Self-Determination theory that explained how relatedness needs motivate DIY in online forums, hackerspaces, and maker communities. However, not much research has been done on how social influence shapes DIY behaviorism. In this paper, we focus on the BoP and present a study conducted in five rural BoP communities in India. Our research studied how, in such communities, an individual’s propensity to do DIY is influenced by others in their network. Through contextual enquiry, we investigated about the social motives that come to play when there is peer-to-peer influence for doing DIY. Our results indicate a strong disposition among the members of the community to engage in DIY activities that are pursued by others in their social milieu and the various motives that lead them to do so. In conclusion, we also discuss the implications of such social influences for design and how such motives can be leveraged for the diffusion of DIY products and product systems in such communities.

Making is a creative experience of imagination and tinkering through which one finds resourcefulness in surrounding objects and materials. The propensity to make has been widely studied through Ryan and Deci’s self-determination theory that sheds light on how makers are driven by intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. However, most of these studies have focused on do-it-yourself (DIY) movements that originated in the West such as the maker movement, the steampunk movement, and regenerative living. In this paper, we focus on the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) community from rural India and present a study that investigates into the motivational tendencies that catalyze DIY in such communities. We studied DIY practices in five BoP communities in rural India (Assam, a northeastern state of India) through contextual enquiry using semi-structured interviews. In the light of practice theory that considers skills, images, and stuff as the three components of a practice, we analyzed the motivational factors that give meaning to DIY in rural BoP communities. Furthermore, the observed inter-generational trend(s) showed how the linkages between these interconnected elements are changing over time and how new meaning might be required for DIY practices to sustain in such communities.

The Micro and Small Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Handicrafts form an important part of the Indian economy. Yet, in the post liberalization era since 1991, MSMEs have fallen considerably behind the national growth rate. Besides the economic threats from opening up the economy to competing global MNCs, and the government’s withdrawal of subsidies, several socio-cultural factors have also stymied the growth of these enterprises. Notable among them are the gradual westernization of culture, rural education, urban immigration and the changing gender and generational relations in artisan families. This paper focuses on one such micro scale handicraft industry in rural North East India (Assam), namely, the Kuhila craft industry and studies the challenges that this industry is facing in economic, social and cultural fronts. It also investigates the effects of environmental changes and its ability to pose as a potential threat to this industry in future.

Rattan and bamboo are important forest resources for the North Eastern Region (NER) of India. Naturally growing in abundance, they find use in a number of industries such as housing, construction, handicrafts, furniture and food industry. Of late, this industry has seen considerable growth outside the NER. But it has not been able to realize its full potential in NER due to significant lack in market orientation of the craftsmen who work from remote areas in NER and try to sell in urban markets. This paper looks into the urban markets, which holds the highest scope for revenue growth for this industry and investigates the gap in the customer preferences and current industry value proposition. The main gaps found are: lack of awareness, limited training focused only on techniques, lack of design awareness and sensitivity (ergonomics, attention to detail, finishing, presentation), lack of branding and marketing knowledge and limited outreach of self help groups (SHG) and clusters.