Upholding Indigenous Weaving Culture in the Philippines
Objectives:
- Create and present a project that puts the sustainable design theory we learned during the course into practice
- Implement design strategies that reduce impact on the planet, are socially considerate and meet the needs of living things
Project Duration: October – December 2022
Designed For: Sustainable Design Theory & Practice course, Pratt Institute
Role: Student, Sustainable Design Programme
Overview: An experiential learning programme designed for high school teachers in the Philippines, which can be integrated in the Department of Education’s grade 10 Social Studies curriculum. The programme introduces the concept of sustainability (using textiles as a case study) and brings a deeper awareness of indigenous weaving culture in the Philippines. An element of the proposed learning programme is to provide a sustainable livelihood opportunity for indigenous weaving communities who would be involved in sharing their knowledge and practices with students.
During my ideation process, I came across questions of scale:
- What are the impacts of commercially scaling indigenous weaves?
- Will the traditional culture of weaving communities be upheld by scaling up production?
Which made me think… Are there other ways to uphold indigenous weaving culture (other than commercially scaling) that ensures cultural integrity while also providing a livelihood for communities?
This inquiry brought forth my design proposal for an experiential learning programme to uphold indigenous weaving culture in the Philippines.
Teachers would be provided a learning kit that outlines the full programme. The first part gives an overview of how the learning kit aligns with the Department of Education’s Grade 10 Social Studies Curriculum and what the purpose of it is. There is also a page that explains the different sections of the learning kit and what’s included.
- Modern society puts pressure on indigenous communities to make a monetary living, so people are leaving their communities to pursue livelihood opportunities elsewhere. As a result traditional knowledge and practices, such as weaving, are not being passed down.
- Ancestral lands of indigenous tribes continue to be exploited by the public and private sectors, which poses threats to their traditional practices.
- Use of indigenous weaves are not always culturally appropriate and traditional designs are taken and commercialised without consent.
- Commercially manufactured textile products dominate the market and the price of handwoven textiles are significantly higher than mass produced textiles.
- Use of toxic chemicals pose threats to the health of humans and ecosystems.
- Factory conditions are often unsafe and workers are not paid living wages.
- Value chains are highly globalised and resource intensive.
- Large volumes of textile waste end up in the landfill, the environment or are incinerated.
Students will be prompted to start thinking about the life cycle of textiles, particularly their clothing. They’ll be asked to bring an item of clothing to class and then use the provided Life Cycle Map Worksheet to map out what they think the life cycle of that clothing item is, from raw material extraction to the end of use.
After the activity, the teacher will give a lecture on the textile industry. The learning kit will include a slide deck with videos to illustrate the life cycle of common textile materials such as cotton and polyester. The students will also have a tactile experience during the lecture with physical props.
The next lecture will feature various indigenous tribes to showcase the diverse weaving culture of the country. In addition to learning about indigenous weaving practices, students will learn about the different plant fibres and natural dyes used in the Philippines. Physical props will also be included so students can see and feel the fibres, cloths and finished products.
After the lectures would be the discussion portion, where students will compare and contrast the commercially made textiles to indigenous textiles and look at them from the different dimensions of sustainability (ecological, social and economic).
Students would then take a field trip to an indigenous weaving community to meet weavers and to see the weaving process first hand. My hope is that this experiential part of the kit could be a livelihood opportunity for indigenous communities, where the Department of Education would pay the weavers to conduct these learning programmes for students.
The Philippines has a rich culture of handloom weaving. Across geographical regions, you’ll find a diversity of weaving communities that use their own kind of loom, raw materials, and weaving techniques. Each indigenous group has weaves and fabric designs which are rooted in place and are culturally unique to their peoples.
Despite the richness of indigenous weaving culture that exists, it is not widely celebrated or even known about. This situation is not unique to the Philippines. In many places across the globe, weaving knowledge and traditions are being lost due to oppressive forces throughout history that have pushed indigenous peoples to assimilate. This disrespect and disregard of communities and their unique cultures has also led to indigenous peoples being marginalised and displaced from their ancestral domains.
I was motivated to start this project to explore opportunities on how to uphold traditional weaving knowledge and practices while also cultivating relationships with indigenous groups that are rooted in respect.