Abstract
With this interpretive study, we sought to understand how weaving as an activity contributed to constructing women handloom weavers’ cultural identity in the region of Ri-Bhoi, a district in Meghalaya, India, by exploring weavers’ experiences through changing tides of modernization in the handloom industry of the region. We adopted a lens of symbolic interaction to consider the ways in which interactions within the Ri-Bhoi cultural context contributed to meanings about the women’s weaving activities and their cultural identities. An ethnographic approach was implemented using participant observation, field notes/journaling, and informal and formal interviews to collect relevant data. Analyses revealed four themes representing the value that Ri-Bhoi women weavers attached to various aspects of their weaving tradition, which in turn, supported their cultural identities: (a) maintaining the tradition of weaving through acquisition and exchange of knowledge, (b) securing social support from family and community, (c) maintaining the tradition of weaving through creation of textiles that symbolize tribe and culture, and (d) achieving a sense of fulfillment (i.e., joy, happiness, and pride). Further exploration revealed that the modernization of the Ri-Bhoi handloom industry increased engagement of women in weaving and their passion to preserve their tradition, which further strengthened their connection to weaving. Implications and future research directions are discussed.
Highlights
The North East Region of India (NERI) comprises eight states—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura—and constitutes8% of the country’s geographical area and 61% the country’s handloom weavers (Boruah and Kaur 2015; Ramswamy and Kumar 2013)
Beginning around 2010, the tribal chief of Ri-Bhoi partnered with selected community members and the Directorate of Sericulture in Meghalaya to implement a variety of government schemes intended to revive Ri-Bhoi weaving. These schemes have effectively contributed to the evolution of the Ri-Bhoi handloom industry from a traditional industry to a more modernized industry. Support offered through these schemes has included the enrollment of women weavers in “Self-Help Groups” (SHGs) that furnish weavers a yearly supply of synthetic yarns, that grant weavers funds to purchase new looms or other weaving equipment, and that provide funds to build weavers sheds for their looms
With this work, we sought to explore and understand how weaving contributed to constructing Ri-Bhoi women weavers’ cultural identities through social interaction in a shifting handloom industry context that has included the evolution of the Ri-Bhoi handloom industry from a traditional industry to a more modernized industry in the last two decades
Summary
The North East Region of India (NERI) comprises eight states—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura—and constitutes8% of the country’s geographical area and 61% the country’s handloom weavers (Boruah and Kaur 2015; Ramswamy and Kumar 2013). Researchers have sought to describe the handloom industry of NERI and its potential for growth and change (e.g., Devi 2012; 2013; Ramswamy and Hmangaihzuali 2016; Singh et al 2008), they have not considered women weavers’ connections to the indigenous art of weaving. Understanding these connections may be valuable, as textile traditions may be intimately bound with the development of individual and community attitudes and beliefs and cultural identity (Forney and Rabolt 1986; Kaur and Gale 2002). Our use of symbolic interaction theory as a lens to frame our interpretations serves an example of crossing disciplinary boundaries and the tangible ways in which a social psychological theoretical perspective can add value to cultural studies
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