Graduation
The work is complete. Though this type of work will never, ever be and for those out there who are pursuing a similar vein of questioning I applaud you all. But for my purposes, I have arrived at my interim destination on my longer journey.Again I can't begin to describe how important the encouragement of my supporters and well-wishers was: the doubts that at times overcame me would dissipate with the words of my colleagues, friends and family. This has taught me so much about the value of my encouragement for others!
Graduation is near: officially September 19, 2014.
Many of you requested the final report in both Executive Summary and full form. Both are below.
Many many thanks and good wishes
Heather
Tara Books final report
The full paper is here under Parsons, H.D.Executive Summary
In December 2013, I travelled to Chennai, India to conduct a
case-study of an unusual business: Tara Books, a tiny book publisher who is
forging a new path for book publishing. Over the course of 4 days, through
interviewing staff and observing their activities on site, I uncovered some of
the mechanisms behind their unique approach in this traditionally closed
industry. I had a background with Tara Books from my work in the publishing
industry in Canada, however this trip to India allowed me to get a sense of
their challenges, their staff, the operations, their activities, their internal
organizational structure, and their mission, first-hand. I uncovered the
following:
Orientation: Tara Books is
oriented differently as compared to many other publishers. Although the day-to-day work
is similar (e.g., editorial work, design, project management, publishing within budgets and timeline restrictions, getting media and
attention, and generating income through sales and marketing), all these
concerns are channeled differently because they are in service to Tara’s
mission which is “to genuinely change the perspective
from which stories are told”. This mission in itself is less about
profit and more about inclusion of alternate perspectives while making a significant contribution to the discourse of storytelling and bookmaking as
an art form. It is about potentially changing the reader, and thus communities, by
introducing and showcasing alternative, often indigenous, perspectives. In
other words: to enact a model for book publishing that has, at its core, ideas
about social transformation.
Actions: as a result, their
activities go beyond those of "normal" publishing; educational work, formal
research of indigenous art in India, community-building and artist-to-artist connections in their “book
building” space. Tara is conscious of their role in society as
privileged actors, and in making the most beautiful, most informed, and most
diverse books possible, they are extending their activities beyond the
immediate publishing business.
Crossing the public/private industry divide: theirs is an industry model that links
to the work normally undertaking in the public or non-profit sectors. They model democratic forms and actively work to build community. They are working under a human-scaled, sustainability, (both
environmental and social) model, for example by sourcing local paper and local
labour and rejecting an unsustainable growth model. In this way they reflect the
work of NGOs and non profits that focus on community projects.
Modelling Democracy: they
have taken democracy out of the purely political sphere and incorporated it
into their ownership (as a worker-owned cooperative) as well as their
organizational structure (as a feminist-collective).
As well, as stewards of
diversity (and their role in representation of marginalized actors), they make books that are
a window into diverse cultures and represent perspectives not normally included
in the mainstream. In this way they are modelling democracy through economic and social
inclusion.
Building community: they use dialogical and socially just forms of networking to
build social relations as well as build books that are a result of inclusive
processes with many diverse actors.
A new form of leadership: their actions are a model for a socially-oriented (rather than competitive and individually oriented) leadership, both in the quality of their publishing as well as their business
organizational model. Tara are forging a new potential path for publishers as
cultural, economic and social actors.
Consistency: Another area uncovered
in the research was in discovering the consistency of Tara’s
values across all facets of their business. There appears to be no hidden
agenda or aspect of the business where they compromise their goals. Democracy,
representation, justice, and aesthetics exists at every level from their books
in the content and production, to the office space, to their organizational
structure, to their profit model, to their management style, to the inclusion
of employees, to the experience and content for readers. The business is a
means by which to publish that is completely humane, non-exploitative, and
creative in its orientation.
In conclusion, Tara’s
work illustrates that publishing can be made to serve social ends that
contribute to positive and socially-just social transformation projects while remaining profitable and economically self-sustaining in the larger mainstream economy. This indicates that perhaps other industries can engage
with social justice and social transformation if their work is conducted with critical
consciousness, consideration, sustainable practices, and democratic values that
are consistent across all facets of operations.
