Weaving for Development: An Ethnographic Study on How the Ibans of West Kalimantan Determines the Color of Pua Kumbu

Nita Trismaya, A. Cahyo Nugroho, Semiarto Purwanto

2018

Abstract

Color is a cultural expression derived from the culturalknowledge of particular social groups. Culture in the form of local tradition determine the color composition and selection can be seen in tenun or traditional weaving. Almost every tenun uses natural dyes will come-up with soft, darker, and other low intensity of colors. It is considered that local technology gives a limitationto the crafters to produce brighter colors. The changes brought by modernization today has, however, enabled them to have more choices in colors since the use of colorful thread is commonly found now. Our short ethnographic observation, conducting intensively for one month in some Iban communities in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan has shown us that color composition and selection is in fact not a simple matter. Research notice that color selection is in most cases very impersonal and sacred, and is made based on dreams, symbols, and the experience of respective crafters who mostly women. When an empowerment program for women introduced by a national NGO, which encourages peoples to produce more pua kumbu or Ibanese tenun, the color selection was done by also considering the market demands. Eventually, this market-driven production produces a new cultural problem for the Iban crafters.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Trismaya N., Nugroho A. and Purwanto S. (2018). Weaving for Development: An Ethnographic Study on How the Ibans of West Kalimantan Determines the Color of Pua Kumbu.In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations - Volume 1: ICRI, ISBN 978-989-758-458-9, pages 356-363. DOI: 10.5220/0009931003560363

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icri18,
author={Nita Trismaya and A. Cahyo Nugroho and Semiarto Purwanto},
title={Weaving for Development: An Ethnographic Study on How the Ibans of West Kalimantan Determines the Color of Pua Kumbu},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations - Volume 1: ICRI,},
year={2018},
pages={356-363},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0009931003560363},
isbn={978-989-758-458-9},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations - Volume 1: ICRI,
TI - Weaving for Development: An Ethnographic Study on How the Ibans of West Kalimantan Determines the Color of Pua Kumbu
SN - 978-989-758-458-9
AU - Trismaya N.
AU - Nugroho A.
AU - Purwanto S.
PY - 2018
SP - 356
EP - 363
DO - 10.5220/0009931003560363