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Radical Entrepreneurs: First Nations Designers’ Approaches to Community Economic Development
Author(s) -
Willmott Cory
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
anthropology of work review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.151
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1548-1417
pISSN - 0883-024X
DOI - 10.1111/awr.12043
Subject(s) - indigenous , social capital , entrepreneurship , visibility , ethnic group , participant observation , sociology , symbolic capital , economic geography , political science , economic growth , geography , economics , social science , anthropology , ecology , meteorology , law , biology
Over the past 15 years, contemporary N ative C anadian fashion designers have been gaining increasing visibility and economic viability. Yet, their roles and purposes remain poorly understood. This article identifies a problem with conventional approaches to the question of C ommunity E conomic D evelopment and A boriginal participants in the garment industry in the N ew E conomy. It proposes an alternative model based on the concept of the “radical entrepreneur,” which incorporates ideas surrounding ethnic economies, “social entrepreneurship,” symbolic capital, and “rootedness” in indigenous cultures and societies. Insights drawn from participant observation among, and interviews with, members of a C anada‐wide network of contemporary aboriginal fashion designers demonstrate that these “radical entrepreneurs” work as agents of social change both within their own indigenous communities and among national and international participants in a global fashion geography.