Making production processes visible

-of Western consumers (Barnett et al. 2005; Goodman 2004; Hughes 2000). Instead souvenir-objects are both enchanting and enchanted objects. This enchantment is refracted through but not simply defined b

entangled with. Whilst romanticised images of artisanal producers are inherently problematic, there is also

2001:114), producing enchantment through the object and its embodiment of

I return to these discussions in chapter 6, to consider the ways in which objects d yet novel ways. In chapter 8, I consider how producers give meaning to their involvement with Gone Rural (rather

consumers through their differential involvement with the souvenir-object is a

however, it is necessary to develop these ideas by recognising how enchantment is also

5.3.2 Making production processes visible

As discussed in chapter 4, Baobab Batik, Ngwenya Glass and Swazi Candles, invite tourists to watch souvenir production processes. This offers a potentially enchanted and meaningful story for tourists, as the manager of Ngwenya Glass explains:

t. Whereas when you see that to make a little elephant it takes eight guys working on it for five minutes, it comes across as something that means a lot more (Gary, Manager, Ngwenya Glass, Swaziland, July 07).

The manager of Ngwenya Glass recognises how t

process as a purchasing event can become as significant as the object itself (also see Gregson and Crewe 1997). This creates a potential future story or narrative, such that

These techniques and understandings of producing enchantment are reiterated by the manager of Baobab Batik and yet she further articulates how producing enchantment is not only created

involvement in watching the production process enables them to admire the unique and individual variations of each object:

Els: When you show people the set up NR: The production process?

Els: Yeah, then people can see what really goes into it. And also the unique each cushion cover is maybe made by about 10 different ladies and each of them have kind of got their own kind of uniquen

seen the steps they are more kind of, admiring it

(Els, Managing Director, Baobab Batik, Swaziland, July 07)

context of purchase t

This technique of producing enchantment is premised upon creating a sense of intimacy

through the context of purchase (Conran 2006)

-Batik workshop, positioned within a stunning open vista of pineapple and sugar cane fields, next to a nature reserve and framed in the distance by mountains also helps produce enchantment (see section 4.2.2). Figure 5.3 shows how Batiks are visible at various stages of their production throughout this tourist site, further enhancing and authenticating their relation to the context of production.

Figure 5.3: Batiks drying in the sun outside the Baobab Batik workshop

-mystify the production process but ourists, as discussed in 4.2.2. However, Els also articulates that this is significant because it enhances and draws attention to the handmade and unique variations of the object itself. As such the object is enchanted in and of itself, not simply through its representation of the context of production, but because it embodies and evokes this relation. There is a dual process of enchantment taking-place here, where the object and the story refract through one another. Baobab Batik emphasises this in their promotional leaflet, which incorporates a poetic description of their production process and products:

Seeps into the cloth

(Baobab Batik, promotional poem, 2007, reproduced with permission)

This leaflet is given to tourists when they purchase products from Baobab Batik, potentially re-enchanting the object and the production processes it embodies at some point in their future. Enchantment, when produced through the context of purchase and , when refracted by the aesthetic sensibilities of objects

themselves (Cook and Crang

1996; Goodman 2004)

and its relation to the place of production, creating a sense of intimacy and connection with both. These techniques of producing a story indicate that enchantment does not reside solely within the object or its relation with the context of purchase but is refracted through both.

The active techniques of producing refracted enchantment through objects and the place of production are also adopted by carvers and market sellers. For instance,

Moses, a producer who works at Ezulwini Valley Market selling the soapstone objects he carves adopts specific selling strategies to refract enchantment through himself and his carvings:

Moses: The tourists from the hotels buy from the other end and if they get this far they are often just looking and tired, so you need to try to convince people maybe to spend one minute in the shop. Then you have to use that time like maybe

ry to tell them everything NR: Do you think it is your job to make them want to buy?

Moses: Yes of course, and when they come I see what they are looking at and then I explain to them all the steps

Moses: Yeah, I think it is another thing which adds value so it will entertain them (Moses, seller and carver at Ezulwini Valley Market, Swaziland, July 07)

stages involved in carving soapstone as well as pointing out differences between his carvings. In doing so Moses attempts to enchant tourists as well as his products, -object by demystifying and making visible his role in producing them (Causey 2003; Geismar 2003; Jules-Rosette 1986). Providing an object with a biography is a way of enchanting objects at the point of sale for Moses, enabling tourists to differentiate his products from the mass of standardised objects for sale in the market place, performing its souvenir status (Crang 1997b; Notar 2006; Steiner 1999). This often worked, as one tourist told me after

Naomi, backpacking tourist, ethnographic journal, Swaziland, Sep 06).

However tourists did not necessarily purchase objects or value them because of their relationship to the context of production or sale. Moses also recognises this as he continues to explain how his techniques to attract and entertain tourists are often unsuccessful and troubling:

I have to think, if they do not buy, what makes them just do something like that.

things (Moses, seller and carver at Ezulwini Valley Market, Swaziland, July 07).

Whilst Moses works to cultivate enchantment through his selling techniques he

Moses suggests that objects do not

seamlessly relate to place and production and neither could he simply enchant objects.

He would take time and care over his display; positioning large ornate objects as well as his new designs outside his main stall (see figure 5.4).

isplay in front of his stall, Ezulwini Valley Market, 2007 Whilst the majority of tourists were unlikely to purchase these large artistic carvings,

details of the ornate carvings suggested they were carved by him as well as representing his artistic ability. In turn, these could inflect the other products he sold, which were more usual of those found throughout Ezulwini Valley Market. It is also worth noting that Moses and the objects he sold only became enchanting in relation to other less than

attempts to entertain tourists, refracted enchantment by entangling his presence within the handcrafted aesthetics of objects (see 6.3.1 for further discussion).

This section has highlighted how souvenir-objects might be enchanted as producers attempt to entangle their presence within the unique aesthetic qualities of objects and how their affective capacities are written. This opens up the question as to how enchantment, as a disruptive capacity internal to objects, has the potential to unsettle and

re-ern I return to in chapter 6. The discussions in this

section have also alluded to the significance of proximity and attachment in producing enchantment, suggesting that routine interactions with souvenir-objects might translate this affective presence int (Hetherington 1997).