Nakshi Kantha

With the adoption of the WTO TRIPS Agreement at the international level, the protection of geographical indications (GIs) gained momentum, with developing countries hoping to add value to geographical products, ensuring consumer interest and preventing unfair competition in the market place. However, TRIPS-mandated GI regime suffers some inherent limitations, including the extended protection for only selected GIs and difficulties of obtaining protection in foreign jurisdictions. At the national level, due to the diverse legal and administrative practices to protect GIs, WTO Members often face complications in obtaining effective protection for their cultural products beyond the national jurisdiction. Against this background, this paper analyses some of the legal and institutional challenges that confront countries like Bangladesh in ensuring cross-border protection of their GIs. The paper argues that due to the absence of any universal policy regime to ensure cross-border GI protection, the trading interests of a least developed country (LDC) like Bangladesh are seriously undermined in other neighbouring countries. In addition, the sui generis GI registration system of Bangladesh is still at a nascent stage, which is not sufficient to address this issue. The paper further argues that only a shared understanding between neighbouring countries, mutual consultations and political consensus would enable the Abstract With the adoption of the WTO TRIPS Agreement at the international level, the protection of geographical indications (GIs) gained momentum, with developing countries hoping to add value to geographical products, ensuring consumer interest and preventing unfair competition in the market place. However, TRIPS-mandated GI regime suffers some inherent limitations, including the extended protection for only selected GIs and difficulties of obtaining protection in foreign jurisdictions. At the national level, due to the diverse legal and administrative practices to protect GIs, WTO Members often face complications in obtaining effective protection for their cultural products beyond the national jurisdiction. Against this background, this paper analyses some of the legal and institutional challenges that confront countries like Bangladesh in ensuring cross-border protection of their GIs. The paper argues that due to the absence of any universal policy regime to ensure cross-border GI protection, the trading interests of a least developed country (LDC) like Bangladesh are seriously undermined in other neighbouring countries. In addition, the sui generis GI registration system of Bangladesh is still at a nascent stage, which is not sufficient to address this issue. The paper further argues that only a shared understanding between neighbouring countries, mutual consultations and political consensus would enable the Abstract With the adoption of the WTO TRIPS Agreement at the international level, the protection of geographical indications (GIs) gained momentum, with developing countries hoping to add value to geographical products, ensuring consumer interest and preventing unfair competition in the market place. However, TRIPS-mandated GI regime suffers some inherent limitations, including the extended protection for only selected GIs and difficulties of obtaining protection in foreign jurisdictions. At the national level, due to the diverse legal and administrative practices to protect GIs, WTO Members often face complications in obtaining effective protection for their cultural products beyond the national jurisdiction. Against this background, this paper analyses some of the legal and institutional challenges that confront countries like Bangladesh in ensuring cross-border protection of their GIs. The paper argues that due to the absence of any universal policy regime to ensure cross-border GI protection, the trading interests of a least developed country (LDC) like Bangladesh are seriously undermined in other neighbouring countries. In addition, the sui generis GI registration system of Bangladesh is still at a nascent stage, which is not sufficient to address this issue. The paper further argues that only a shared understanding between neighbouring countries, mutual consultations and political consensus would enable the Abstract With the adoption of the WTO TRIPS Agreement at the international level, the protection of geographical indications (GIs) gained momentum, with developing countries hoping to add value to geographical products, ensuring consumer interest and preventing unfair competition in the market place. However, TRIPS-mandated GI regime suffers some inherent limitations, including the extended protection for only selected GIs and difficulties of obtaining protection in foreign jurisdictions. At the national level, due to the diverse legal and administrative practices to protect GIs, WTO Members often face complications in obtaining effective protection for their cultural products beyond the national jurisdiction. Against this background, this paper analyses some of the legal and institutional challenges that confront countries like Bangladesh in ensuring cross-border protection of their GIs. The paper argues that due to the absence of any universal policy regime to ensure cross-border GI protection, the trading interests of a least developed country (LDC) like Bangladesh are seriously undermined in other neighbouring countries. In addition, the sui generis GI registration system of Bangladesh is still at a nascent stage, which is not sufficient to address this issue. The paper further argues that only a shared understanding between neighbouring countries, mutual consultations and political consensus would enable the

Edited by Darielle Mason; With essays by Pika Ghosh, Katherine Hacker, Darielle Mason, Anne Peranteau, and Niaz Zaman

Winner of the 2011 Alfred Barr Award given by the College Art Association

This first book-length study on kanthas published outside of South Asia focuses on two premier collections, one assembled by the legendary historian of Indian art, Dr. Stella Kramrisch, the other by Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, leading proponents of self-taught art. Created from worn-out garments imaginatively embroidered by women with motifs and tales drawn from a rich regional repertoire, kanthas traditionally were stitched as gifts for births, weddings, and other family occasions.
Innovative essays by leading scholars explore the domestic, ritual, and historical contexts of the fascinating quilts in these collections—made between the mid-19th and mid-20th century in what is today Bangladesh and West Bengal, India—and trace their reinterpretation as emblems of national identity and works of art.