Reviving Traditional Knowledge: Indigenous Sericulture Practices In Trespassing. (2003)

Abstract

This study examines how indigenous sericulture traditions in Karachi have continued and adapted over time, sustained through community cooperation and deep ecological knowledge. For generations, rural women have cultivated mulberry trees, reared silkworms, and spun silk by hand within family and community networks. Today, however, industrial production and the loss of intergenerational skills are putting these practices at risk. Viewed through the lens of Trespassing by Uzma Aslam Khan, and within the framework of late capitalism, study [1]analyses that silk develops as more than a traditional craft, it is both a cultural symbol and a literary counterpoint to consumer capitalism. Recent study, explores that silk personifies memory, highlights the gendered nature of labour, and carries intergenerational knowledge. These attributes allow it to resist the commodification while exposing the tensions between local heritage and the demands of global markets. Drawing on Fredric Jameson’s concept of cultural depthlessness, the discussion explores how characters such as Dia and Riffat engage with silk beyond its market value, using it as a means of asserting identity against the forces of global homogenization. In this way, this study positions sericulture as a lens for understanding cultural resilience both in the fictional narrative and in contemporary Pakistani society. This study seeks to address that gap by bringing together literary analysis of Trespassing with ethnographic visions into contemporary sericulture practices, offering a new approach to understand the material and symbolic role of traditional knowledge in resisting consumer culture.