Weaving Identity by Susan M. Walcott

Author:Susan M. Walcott [Walcott, Susan M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780578474182
Google: xx75wwEACAAJ
Publisher: Susan M. Walcott
Published: 2019-03-20T16:04:55+00:00

Figure 4.1 Urban and rural sides of development

Bhutan’s traditional textiles feature as one of the “Thirteen Arts and Crafts” targeted for government support and preservation. Pieces sport an array of bright colors and embroidered designs displaying motifs from its Buddhist faith in traditional patterns. Real and mythical flying beasts represent emblems from ancient folk tales. All lend their unique cultural stamp to the cloth handwoven by Bhutanese women on distinctive traditional looms. Interest in and sponsorship of the textile craft by nobility and members of the royal household have historic roots. Credit goes to a former king’s sister for introducing the Tibetan triangular shaped horizontal loom in the 1930s. Fixed or framed, similar looms come from neighboring India. Other types of looms used for Bhutanese cloth include the card loom and the backstrap loom derived from Indian or Southeast Asian models. The most talented weavers practiced at the royal looms close to the palace compound. They produced a higher grade of intricately embroidered cloth than that used for everyday clothes or for partial tax credit. Cotton and silk are the basic materials used in the colorful cloth, usually covered with embroidery. Native yak and sheep provide locally sourced wool threads.

Queen Mother Ashi Sonam Choden Wangchuck set up The Tarayana Foundation in 1971. One of its primary functions is to promote Bhutanese traditional crafts including textiles. In the mid-1980s two books by American collectors of the exotic textiles brought the Bhutanese crafts an enthusiastic world reception. Applications of the material to global market-oriented goods include tableware, bed covers, eyeglass cases, and accessories such as purses and shawls. They are designed for a deliberately slowly developing tourist market (Figure 4.2). Encouraging cottage industries serve another goal of the royal rulers: keeping modernization controlled and discouraging rural to urban migration. Its purpose was to avoid the many ills obvious to observers of the developing world by that time. Proceeds from the sale of their fabric were intended to go into the hands of the women weavers. This supplemented the family income, providing food, school clothes and books for their children. As in the Outer Hebrides, schools are now required to teach the indigenous language along with English. This represents an attempt to preserve the Dzongkha language as a written as well as spoken culturally rich communication form.

Royal patronage established the National Textile Museum to showcase artifacts important to Bhutan’s cultural heritage in 2001. Partial funds come from public and private grants by various countries and individuals. The structure is located close to the national library and an example of a traditional farmhouse. The style and function are a folkways lesson for future generations in an inevitably urbanizing society. Textile production by hand takes

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