Indigenous Peoples, Heritage and Landscape in the Asia Pacific: Knowledge Co-production, Policy Change and Empowerment

Panel 4: Weaving and Empowerment

Date: October 7 / October 8, 2020, 7PM LA/10 AM Taiwan/Manila

Transcript

Stephen Acabado: Hi everyone we'll wait for another minute and then we'll get started. Okay good morning good afternoon good evening wherever you are. It's good evening here where we are in los angeles. Welcome to panel 4 of our webinar series on engaged research in the asia pacific region. Before we start we would like to acknowledge that as a land grant institution the department of anthropology, center for southeast asian studies, and asia pacific center at ucla acknowledges the gabrieleno tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of tovaangar, the los angeles basin and southern channel islands. We are grateful for the support of the wenner gren grant foundation for anthropological research through the webinars on the future of anthropology grant, the henry luce foundation, the new england university first people's right center, the national chengchi university center for taiwan philippines indigenous knowledge local knowledge and sustainable studies (CTPILS), the ucla cotsen institute of archaeology, and the ucla pacific asia pacific center, the ucla department of anthropology, ucla center for southeast asian studies, university of hawaii at manoa center for southeast asian studies, Ifugao state university, the partido state university and the save the ifugao terraces movement are co-hosts of this webinar series. Panel four focuses on weaving in the asia pacific, specifically in taiwan, thailand and in the philippines. We look at how stakeholder engagement forefronts discussions on ownership and control of intellectual property or technology. In the case of the resurgence of weaving in the asia pacific, we see the relationship between heritage conservation and the impacts of economic forces. Traditional weaving in southeast asia is tied to cultural identity and cultural expressions. However the assimilation of indigenous communities to the larger societies meant the cultural context of weaving has changed. The demands to produce textiles for monetary gain have also impacted the way weaving communities produce their crafts. In some instances the cultural context of weaving has been lost. This panel provides examples of communities attempting and succeeding in situating their textiles to their cultural context. Panelists will also discuss how they are fighting against appropriations of their traditional designs by entrepreneurs through the establishment of locally managed textile commerce. Our moderator for today will hopefully will be able to catch us amid a discussion but for now professor da-wei kuan will take over cover for Mr. Marlon Martin.

Da-wei Kuan: Hi everyone from taiwan and this is daya and before we begin to introduce our panelists today i would like to share you a little of my thinking because last week we received a question from the audience -how will covid-19 in community in engagement and i've been thinking of that for a whole week and i think the pain of trouble the constraint of traveling from one place to another one country to another is the most obvious phenomena we are facing and under the phenomena we have to stay at home or work from home. But i believe people will very quickly get bored and you know try to extend our connection and continue our work. So for the ethnographical study i think the multiple sites or even international collaboration will be more and more important. And secondly i also see that there is a crisis that in equal power relations due to the gap of the access to the technology of communication and representation will be widened. The unequal power relation will be very possibly be widened if we have the gap of technology. So i think that's also the reason why we are having this webinar series webinar series you know to foster multiple site collaboration and also try to spill the network to to support each other. So it's my honor today to introduce you our panelists. Our first panelist is Analyn Salvador-Amores. Analyn is a professor of anthropology and director of the museo kordilyera at the university of philippines baguio. She earned her doctorate in social and cultural anthropology from oxford. The Cordillera textile project project composed of an interdisciplinary team conducting research on textiles in northern luzon. Her research interests include non-Western ethics, material culture. Included in her work in a worldwide winning book is the award-winning book: "Tapping Ink, Tattooing Identities: Tradition and Modernity in Contemporary Kalinga Society". She continues to carry out anthropological fieldwork among the indigenous communities in northern Luzon and have published extensively on the subject. Our second panelist is Nga-ping Ong. Nga-ping comes from taiwan and she received her phd degree in education and master degree in ethnology from national chengchi university. She is currently an associate professor and chair in the department of ethnology at nccu. Her research interests include ethnic education, ethnic identity, experimental education of indigenous peoples, history of indigenous people, education policy of indigenous people, revitalization of indigenous language and culture, the museums multi-cultural display strategy. She has been often invited to various workshops from for indigenous peoples and new immigrants from southeast asia. In the past 10 years she has often served as a representative of scholars and experts in the indigenous people's committee from central government to local county and city government and also a member of education policy committee in the ministry of education taiwan. Our third panelist, Paulette Cuison, is the president of the kiyyangan weavers association, a weaving group organized by the save the Ifugao terraces movement

. The weaving group goes by the trade name ifugao nation. Her earlier volunteer work was with the gabriela women's organization at the manila national office as a counselor on victim of violence against women and children. She is currently a volunteer heritage conservationist with SITMO and also a member of the intangible heritage and performing arts society. she is also satoyama meister where she authored a teaching module, a step-by-step guide for students and teachers in learning how to weave. Paulette holds a ba degree in behavioral science from the university of philippines manila. And our moderator today is supposed to be marlon martin but we are sorry that marlon is not able to join us in the first 30 minutes due to an emergent meeting so i and stephen will co-moderate the panelists in the beginning and we have very outstanding panelists and very interesting topics today weaving and empowerment. As what you see here the mask the mask with traditional tattoo on it. It's also another example of the influence or the reaction of the community to covid19. So is this a commodity, a cultural appropriation or is it a reaction that shows the the agency from the community. That's very relevant to our discussion today. So we would like to welcome all our participants and begin our discussion. So firstly i would like to ask our panelists how do you define weaving as a researchers or as a weaver and how weaving is important in present date. We have changing culture, changing cultural landscape so in your community or the community you work with why is weaving still important? So can we have Analyn to start first?

Analyn Salvador-Amores: Good morning everyone. I'll start with the first question because i'm part of this Cordillera textile project that works in north luzon working, collaborating with master weavers, local weavers in different communities. So the way we view weaving is actually a part of the way of life of the people. This it also forms part of this social biography for for the people that we work in and as many of you would know this is also part of the their cultural expressions of identity and that's a continuation because it's part of a narrative of their ancestors and then of course if you look at the designs these are this features these different iconography patterns which actually identifies a pattern to a particular group like for instance ifugao have their own patterns the bondoc group, the kalinga, have their own patterns so weaving is really really very important and there is a very strong resurgence at the time. Can i show some brief slidesabout where we work for like for instance the Corditex project?

Kuan: sure sure

Salvador-Amores: Can you hear me? So here this Corditex project was conceived to work in different communities and we have this interdisciplinary team from anthropology, ethnobotany, ethnomusicology, ethnomath, physics, chemistry, even ergonomics economics and geography. And we have collaborated with other groups because we view weaving as very essential to the different communities and some of the master weavers have long been gone and we're trying to revive extant textiles by reconstructing this one. So like i said earlier the textile identify that in the specific community so that is very important

Kuan: I see a very interesting term inyour slides which is ethnomathematics. Can you further describe it?

Salvador-Amores: The ethnomathematics actually we have math professors and researchers who are looking at the different patterns on the textiles because we have this assumption that in terms of native relations there is a mathematical ingenuity present in the textiles. This is not about filas or numbers but this is about how designs are conceived by the the master weavers, how they arrange throughout from their mind and executing that on the weaving itself. So in other words in other words the weavers are also very knowledgeable and like i said.

Kuan: Yeah i think that really you know give inspire us that the weaving is a mediation for our education. Even a mediation for the dialogue between our traditional knowledge and modern science mathematics for example and yeah that that's very inspired inspiring and i will come back to you later but before that professor ong would you like to share your experience including how do you define weaving and how as a researcher, how do you work with the community and what how do you see the importance of weaving in the present present indigenous community today? Professor ong?

Nga-Ping Ong: Hi i prepare a short theme maybe i can share later and we have since 2012 we i participated in nccu Ulay Lokah project and this is funded by the ministry of science and technology and this project aims was hope to alternative development will be participated in the Ulay area and that transformation of the poor, transformation of the rural area will become its development advantage. And we have known the cultural revival work of a group of weavers of the Ulay weaving association association since the um 1990s because of our long-term ethnological field work there. And we also know the Ulay Atayal weaving culture is endangered. So nccu university outreach office accompany can accompany the Ulay weavers through co-curation and visiting museums in japan and united states to find their ancestral fabrics, to understand the ancestor's weaving culture and remake them. These actions allow the weaving weavers to reform the Atayal cultural identity and inherit the skill of weaving. So with the Ulays experience in mind and due to taiwan's new south bound policy i participated in another project since the 27th. So i go to visit the thailand and the corporation of thailand weavers and Atayal weavers together. So this so this thai project combined they will have a weaving festival in the october 15th so very interesting. And maybe i prepared a thing so can i share with each other? I can share the link.

Kuan: Yes please Yeah right now we can do that immediately. So we can share that in the chat box. so we can have the link to assist. So our audience can have the link to the film and further i would like to ask professor ong a question about since you've been to thailand and collaborate with the weavers in thailand and in taiwan can you briefly share what do you see the similarity of the efforts between taiwan and the thailand indigenous weavers? Okay so before you answer to this question i would like to ask paulette to share your experience in in philippines. Okay Paulette? Hi, is Paulette there? Okay maybe we can come back to Paulette later but regarding into the question of the similarity of the effort between thai thailand and taiwan indigenous weavers. What do you see the similarity between the efforts of these two groups professor ong?

Ong: Hi okay because the Ulays weaving culture is endangered and but in thailand the weaving culture is still very active. So when they the Ulay weavers, hope to learn the weaving skill and and they exchange. They go the Ulay weavers, they go to visit thailand and they understand the the weaving culture together and so they when they come back to Ulay they have a new idea to share their weaving culture and to teach the young generation to learn the new skills. So i think it is a very good change idea exchange or idea exchange.

Kuan: Yeah i see that's that's very important information. So analyn i have a question for you regarding to the case in thailand. Maybe the reason that the weaving is very active part of the reason i guess is because of commodifiers. I don't know how do you encounter commodifying in the case in philippines and also how do you describe the issue of modernization in that influence the cultural landscape in terms of physical change and traditional practice of in philippine.

Salvador-Amores: Currently for the last three years there is a strong resurgence on textiles. Parts in the philippines for instance in the Cordillera there is a government support coming from department of trade and industry. There's the philippine textiles research institute and also the research is done by by the university especially the corditex who's doing research in the cordillera and also in the visayas. Now this is there is a strong link between this weaving as a form of livelihood and also at the same time taking some value out of the part of commodity because there is a strong demand on the search for for instance authentic textiles woven in different communities so a lot of people are trying to look for what is authentic. Looking for this idea of exotica in different villages where we can find this very beautiful textiles. So in terms of commodification there's there is a strong there are two perspectives on that. One is on the negative part like you view this textiles as like you said it's a commodity but at the same time we can see local weavers working on their textiles based on tradition and at the same time working with external influences like other catering to tourism. For instance they weave for tourist needs, tourist demand and at the same time they're also working at a household level. So they weave for the community, they weave also for other clients in other other cities for instance or even in the global market. And what is interesting here is that commodity actually allows weavers innovate while working at the household level. So there's local weaving at the same time working globally through the work of fashion designers for instance so they are engaged with kind of activity this time. So for me the commoditization or commodity commoditization of textiles for instance is actually a continuity of the study of people. There's a continuity of the patterns even form of materials that being used from cotton to polyester or using back strap to digital loom for instance. So there's a tension within that but at the same time what is unique about what's happening there is innovation and recognition of these local weavers in terms of the creativity and originality and at the same time there is also what we call as mixing cultures you know. So what they see as like a popular design on the internet or a popular design woven in other communities they also incorporate that in their own type of weave. So there's a clear borrowing of these patterns to come up with a new design.

Kuan: I see so not not just a big company but every household has the chance to participate.

Salvador-Amores: Yes the the idea of household has for this weaving communities have expanded because they interact, they travel, they get ideas from the internet, they participate in trade fairs so they actually see ideas what is done in other weaving communities from the philippines or elsewhere.

Kuan: Yes i see so i have a question for both of you and professor ong. Do you see the the tension between conserving the traditional pattern and have some innovation to meet the need of the the fashion. I know because i read it ifugao 19 i mean 2019 or 18 and there was a fashion show in the community which means that there is a lot of creativity put in it. But at the same time do you see the the tension between conserving the traditional pattern and [inaudible].

Salvador-Amores: Yes is that there's a lot of ongoing fashion shows of using the traditional fabric. Sometimes we get into a trap of this culture appropriation at the same time permissive appropriation because sometimes local communities would allow them you know to use their own fabric for for a particular design. But at the same time there are textiles that you are not allowed to use for fashion. Some of the more sacred ones are kept and they are not allowed but sometimes there are textiles that can be redesigned in such a way that there is permissive appropriation i mean the community allows to use that for a specific pattern the more the more common ones or the textiles without meanings or textile patterns without meanings can be used for fashion for instance. But again we have to be wary and we have to be i mean educated on how these textiles are worn. How they are how these patterns are used for certain vital occasions in the community.

Kuan: I see. So when you say not to allow the use of certain pattern that has a special meaning is there any legal instrument or any mechanism to ban or to constrain the use of the pattern with certain special meaning?

Salvador-Amores: There are some textile patterns that are accorded for instance for the dead. there are certain patterns that are recorded for certain rituals which are taboos to actually use them for everyday activities. But the problem with with the cordillera textiles is that sometimes we view all textiles as the same but the iconography or certain or specific patterns dictates what this means. So it is actually identified with this a particular group for instance and sometimes these are held sacred by some communities. For instance a blouse which is similar to the Atayal like the white cloth with some patterns are used as funerary garb in talk and then that's the same with i saw that as a similar garment for the Atayal it's also used as a funerary garb but some if you don't know what what this stands for then sometimes you would just wear this as an ordinary blouse. For an outsider so the outsiders should learn about this patterns these textiles that are used for funerary blankets. Sometimes they're used for shawls or bed sheets without reason but to the shock of to the shock of scholars or to the shock of weavers. So it's important to understand what textiles are allowed to use and what textiles can be mass produced for for everyday things or clothing for that matter.

Kuan: I see. [inaduible] Conserving the traditional pattern and adapting to the need and and creating the new pattern

Acabado: Daya i think your signal is you had an unstable signal and so you're... We lost you. Okay i think i'm going to take over. Paulette, are you back? So Analyn, the professor... or you're back Daya? okay go ahead please.

Kuan: Yeah but it's a good timing for you to take over anyway.

Acabado: Okay Paulette? I guess signal in ifugao is unstable as well. So there's really this a thin line separates conservation heritage conservation and spectacle and we need to think of weaving as something that caters to both the economic need and also the need to maintain traditions. And as both professor ong and professor salvador amores mentioned that textile or weaving reinforced ethnic identity and authenticity is is something that's for me it's a it's a western idea, that authenticity changes depending on who defines what is authentic and in this sense i think indigenous groups or people who practice the culture who produce those textiles are the ones who would define what is authentic and for us who consumers of those textiles we need to learn or we need to know it's incumbent upon us to learn about the messages of those designs or the meanings of those designs. We had a question here for uh the weaver the weaving community especially for Paulette but i think marlon should be able to join us in a few minutes so we'll skip this question for now and so for for professor ong a question that because of the Otok program in in thailand and so you have that income stream and you also have that weaving tradition. How does it make how does this program the thailand program develop into a more sustainable income stream for for the community?

Ong: Tourists they can find their weaving. They're building a weaving village model. This is because i can we mentioned about the waving fashion show but the weaving show in Ulay only one one day so there are a weaving classrooms and have a market and have a weaving festivals and special pattern method in Ulay like to promote the special this is a new design and compared with the OTOP and they because after the asian financial trauma in the 1997 the economic was certainly damaged and upgrading the rural local economic become an important policy of the thai government. In 1976 under the leadership of the queen sirikit so they are building besides a handicraft center and an establishment by the loyal project which the prototype of OTOP department in thailand and this OTOP department also happened in japan and the taiwan but i think that in my opinion the thai thailand OTOP is most successful than taiwan because the government helped to open up the market in addition to increasing the employment opportunities and the income it promoted the thailand's traditional handcraft in the agricultural industry and the diversified thailand product to promote to the market to various parts of thailand and the international market with cultural create creativity so i think this part i can compare the policy of taiwan and thailand. I think thailand OTOP policy about the weaving village is more successful.

Acabado: Thank you professor Ong. Daya, are you taking over?

Kuan: Yeah i have a question for Analyn because i'm still very interested in the multi-disciplinary collaboration collaboration you mentioned in the very beginning. We discussed the ethnomathematic and you also mentioned ethnobotany right and you share the information that you try to have all the households participate in the business or in the adaptation to the market mechanism. So in your opinion how can weaving or how can the revitalization of weaving contribute to the development of indigenous community or indigenous society in different aspects?

Salvador-Amores: Well the CORDITEx.. Well there's a recent declaration of baguio city as one of the creative and crafts community in unesco in 2017 and part of this is to declare the highlight of weaving as a craft and an industry at the same time for baguio city and the cordillera. So recently we just had an exhibition about this research findings of the CORDITEX to include the anthropology of the textiles. How textiles are we included the work of our ethnobotanist looking at the traditional dye.

Acabado: I think we lost her.

Kuan: Okay and is Paulette able to join us now? If not i would like to drop in another question for professor ong because stephen just mentioned that he think of authentic authenticity is a western idea. What do you think about it? Do you agree with stephen?

Ong: Yes yes because we also use the western idea to do something but now indigenous people discuss how to use their native idea to their revitalization cultural revitalization. So i think we have discussed about this.

Kuan: Yes yes

Acabado: I think i can stand for paulette and marlon and read passages on our recently published article on Sapiens that provided a background or that talked about the establishment of kiwa, the kiyyangan weavers association and also some of these issues that we talk about on authenticity and the need for maintaining the traditions. So in in 2016 i think marlon martin initiated a program with about 15 elderly weavers to use the indigenous people's education center iped center in ifugao which we helped establish. Initially we called it the ifugao community heritage galleries which was meant to spur conversations among the elders and and the teachers and the younger generation about what they learned in school, what they learned from institutional curriculum as well as traditional knowledge and recent ethnographic and archaeological research because they tend to clash among each other. And so we use the center as a venue to discuss weaving technology and to spur younger generations to learn about weaving. this established the Kiyyangan Weavers association. Kiyyangan named after the location of the archaeological site in Kiyyangan and so we've been excavating in Kiayyangan. Kiwa members are obliged to take on at least one new apprentice every year. Within four years since 2016 the membership of the weaving organization tripled with younger gender younger community members joining elderly weavers to carry on the tradition. The center provides reverse with pattern yarn and textiles that as a result what the weavers used to sell in Banaue the tourist tourism center in ifugao they earn about 250 pesos or about five dollars on consignment. Now they earn at least 800 pesos about 16 dollars through the center. So weavers produce textiles that can be used for a traditional outfit as blanket scarves or as fabric for more modern dress designs. They use customary Ifugao colors of red black and white but they have other added contemporary iconography so if you're looking for authenticity then culture is not static. Culture changes and so a classic example is this the revitalization of weaving in in Kiyyangan and then i'll add some more later after some more discussions.

Kuan: I actually i actually do have some question for you stephen.

Acabado: Go ahead i'll try answer them i'm not a .. that's not this is out totally left field of my discipline.

Kuan: so i mean i know that you start with archaeological project in ifugao right but the academic resources were kind of redirected to what the community needed. The establishment of the center for weaving and indigenous knowledge for example right. And i think that's very positive for the community but i'm trying trying to think it from another way. mean you are you are archaeologists how can the weaving and establishment of this educational center help for your academic work or what does that mean to you for your academic work? That's really a important issue for engagement right? What's your opinion or your experience?

Acabado: Thank you. So as of our previous discussions especially in the first panel when i develop a research design i make it the point that there is an engagement component. Engagement with the community. Okay there's paulette so okay go ahead Paulette.

Kuan: Thank you maybe we can come back later for the question but let's welcome Paulette. Paulette can you share your experience in ifugao in terms of weaving?

Acabado: I guess i think she's

Kuan: Analyn is back I guess.

Salvador-Amores: Hello i'm back sorry.

Kuan: Welcome.

Acabado: Welcome back. So Paulette the question is about your role in KIWA and also if you can briefly talk about the establishment of the weaving group in Kiyyangan through SITMO. I guess no not enough bandwidth in Kiyyangan. So i'll i'll continue what that was that continue answering Daya's question. I'm an archaeologist but then i'm trained in the fore field and my research interest is really to look at the whole aspect of culture. So even though i focus on on deep history i focus on something that that's it's probably esoteric for a lot of people in archaeology but archaeology is really not that different from from sociocultural anthropology. So my engagement between the community especially in Kiyyangan is based on the the need to involve them because of the findings of the archaeological project. All of us in the philippines almost all of us are taught that the ifugao rice terraces are two thousand years old and then the ifugaos are representatives of original filipinos like they were isolated. But that is not what the archaeological record was. They were active during the colonial period and that they were not isolated that they were able to really maintain their practices because of their ability to shift their social socio-political organization and so as an archaeologist it doesn't hamper it doesn't it's not a barrier for us to work with communities. It's actually more it's more important for us to be able to connect and and involve the communities because archaeology can either support or refute some of the history.

Kuan: Yes let's see if Analyn is back or not

Salvador-Amores: Hi professor Daya. I am back hi sorry for that all right what was your question again please.

Acabado: What was your question for analyn?

Kuan: I think it's about how do you avoid from cultural appropriation but at the same time maintain a sustainable income stream? Because if we want to maintain the sustainable income stream then we need to kind of adapt to the the market right? But how do you do this have a sustainable income stream and at the same time conserve the tradition and also you know avoid from the cultural appropriation from your experience

Salvador-Amores: Professor daya i was mentioning earlier that unesco declared baguio city as one of the creative and crafts cities in the world and weaving was the highlight for this iteration because of this conglomeration of different weavers from from the cordillera so they come here in baguio to actually weave. And part of this one is the recognition of their skill for for their skills their creative artistry and it is also a tool for for action, for sustainability. For instance they can actually market all of this woven fabric in trade fair in artists in the artisans market and also we have the an exhibition of the traditional fabric that was woven by our local weavers from different communities. So in order to sustain this the unesco could be considered as an entity to give this criteria of excellence. For instance giving recognition to their technical expertise so there is an indicator wherein you maintain a textile woven according to tradition and at the same time it allows you to market these products to different venues like i said in in trade fair. So here in the commoditization of weaving or the textiles themselves the weavers are engaged in multiple economic strategies. Now they participate in their customary practices where involving their weaving tradition and at the same time with external transactions in the market. For instance you have the hobby trade fair on weaving. We had the artisans market in baguio city and there are also local markets where this local weavers can engage at the household level and at the same time connecting that to market overseas. You know so just show briefly some slides to explain this example please i think i hold on i'll just share. Okay hold on Do you see the slides? Can you see the slides now?

Kuan: Not yet.

Salvador-Amores: The Museo cordillera is also a venue for a meeting as a venue or a meeting for weavers to showcase their weaving so we had an exhibition there so all of this that you can see the loin cloth, wrap around skirts are from different communities. So we as curators also share our findings from research in the field and at the same time the research that we found on the traditional textiles textiles of 100 100 years ago. So we bring that to the communities as a basis for revitalizing traditional weaving in the area. So you can see here this works of local weavers now and the museum is a platform for showcasing all of this and we have the weaving implements there. We also collaborated with local weavers in setting up the exhibition in the museum. So here are the the exhibitions so in other words we see the work we value the work of the local weavers in terms of the design, the materials, the content and we recognize this as a very valuable art form to express their their identity and artistry and we do that for for the corditex research.

Acabado: Professor Salvador-Amores i have a question about the role of communities in this sense institutional institutional museums in representing indigenous communities and how do you how are you able to ensure that it is the voices of the peoples that you work with are the ones represented in your exhibits?

Salvador-Amores: Yeah since the very beginning, since the conception of the exhibition plan \we already invited local weavers to beco-curators for the exhibition. So the CORDITEX has worked in different communities for the last five years and i think we built a strong foundation and trust with the local weavers and so they feel comfortable when we put them for instance fabric from of photographs that we digitally repatriated to the philippines and showing them images. There were also cases of they are there was also a form of resistance on their part because some of them would say that we're not they are not familiar with this kind of weave based on the photographs that we have shown them from the museums in the us for instance or in europe and we encourage them to rethink again that there are these kinds of weaves that were woven 100 years ago and these are from their ancestors and we need to just think just need to revitalize that and revive this practice because textiles are part of their identity, their cultural identity. So for us working with the collections abroad also is also an enabling experience to show the weavers that they can actually create more and revive extant textiles by using the samples and the photographs that we digitally repatriated. So in one community for instance in the corditex project we also digitized some textiles using the digital loom. So in the digital loom we actually re deconstructed deconstructed textiles and we brought that back to the community to actually [inaudible]. So we the CORDITEX one way to actually train with a digital loom using extra samples of textiles that can actually be deconstructed and re-woven to to the digital loom and at the same time they can do that using their backstrap loom. Now the digital loom is very new and we do not want to replace hand loom weaving. We just assist in in the reconstruction and construction of extant textiles so they can see they can also expand their weave repertoire or the designs that they can actually weave. So here we employed technology in reconstructing extant textiles in the community using digital technology. Now many local weavers may have a resistance on this approach but at the same time it is new and it is accessible and we received different reactions when we actually showed the product in the community. So this is the digital that we use i move this one using using an original essentially old sample and this is the finished product based on this particular textile. So so this is the new trend in digital loom weaving. Like i said we don't want to replace traditional handling weaving but at the same time to aid the local weavers to appreciate more of the original textiles that they had in the past.

Kuan: So i think a lot of new technology will bring in and cooperate or co-produce the new pattern. And i would like to welcome Marlon martin for joining us. Can you hear us Marlon? Hello? Hi. So Marlon we we did discuss some important issues so i'm here i'm going to put all this issue together and maybe you can share us some of your experience or your response to them from ifugao. So we have we had some with some issues including how do you see the importance of weaving. How can the revitalization of weaving contribute to the development of indigenous community or indigenous society? For example the generating of income or fostering the environmental education or enhancing the cultural identity in from your experience how can it contribute. And the second issue is as a commodity, how can weaving you know to sustain the income for the community? At the same time how do we avoid from cultural appropriation? That's the second issue we we discussed and the third one is how can you make sure the community voice being represented or participate in the process? For example we very often have the fashion show or exhibitions to promote the our product to the market. We will we will have we will establish the business for selling the the product. But how do we make sure the community voice is represented or directly participate in the process? That's the third of the third issue we discussed earlier. What's your opinion?

Martin: Hi sorry about paulette is having problems with her connections but anyway okay about textiles. Perhaps i can only speak for the ifugaos but i think other indigenous groups would find similarities in how we are addressing all these different issues on in textile production. First and foremost we look into the the function of textiles in in one's cultural identity. In the philippines we have all indigenous groups would have their own respective textiles, their way of weaving, the overall appearance of their textiles which makes it like a batch of identity for for most of us. You don't have two indigenous groups having or wearing the same traditional garments. So it's a question of identity for most indigenous peoples. In the process of weaving it may be similar all over the asia-pacific region but you know there's always distinctness in how we how we see our textiles, how we put it into cultural context. Now of course we're having traditional weaving or traditional fabrics. It's losing to the bigger market of textile production because we have factory produced fabrics in fact a lot of factories. The textile factories now can come up with imitations and probably better quality fabrics with the use of machines and with the use of modern dyes but of course the the locally produced or indigenous of the production of textiles, indigenous communities would always follow this traditional process that represents their culture for one and also how especially in the use of natural dyes where it's an environment environment friendly you know. And we're getting a lot of advocates now you know favoring fabrics that were you know they call it slow fashion. The use of natural fabrics such as cotton, silk or bust fiber. And this is more in consonance with you know taking care of the environment and a better taking care of our natural resources instead of relying on industrial products. So to most indigenous people weavin

g is is actually more economic than you know. Well unconsciously also heritage conservation. Most of our weavers in ifugao are basically doing still doing their weaving because they can earn from it. A lot of our weavers may not be very familiar with the meanings, you know the cultural context of what they're weaving but they know that they can earn something. It can send their children to school, it can help in their daily expenses. That's the reason why they're still maintaining their traditional weaving. In our heritage school we have our indigenous people's center. We have we have a group of weavers, a lot of them elderly but we are already having younger members who are teaching younger community members about traditional weaving. And also we are (the center) is acting as an advocate in the promotion of our traditional fabrics and also helping our weavers come up with designs that that well we may call them contemporary or modern designs but that cannot be subjected to cultural appropriation because we are all we keep having these issues on you know outsiders using our traditional fabrics into something else, which does not it's not favorable to to the culture owners. So we've been having a lot of problems lately on this and yeah of course it came up they call it cultural appropriation. Most of our fabrics our traditional fabrics has cultural context. It has a definite purpose, it has ritual significance to us as indigenous peoples but when it's used outside the ancestral domain when it's used by non-ifugaos then it loses that cultural context and sometimes it actually gets offensive. If like sayfunerary textiles are used as bed covers, they're used as sofa covers and as gowns. It's quite unsettling for us so but you don't always blame you don't always blame the fashion designer or the outsider because they're not very keen on you know actually understanding the cultural context of

traditional textiles. They just think that they're helping because they're buying. So it's also a responsibility i think of indigenous peoples to educate their buyers. So as for them not to commit any cultural appropriation so it's a two-way thing. The weavers or the sellers or the owners of the culture should educate also outsiders on the proper use of their traditional textiles and of course we encourage like what we're doing here at the at the heritage center. We teach our younger weavers to come up with more creative textiles. Of course it's still basically inspired by our traditional fabrics but it's no longer one because you know once you modify a traditional fabric it is no longer the it's no longer traditional so it becomes contemporary. It becomes a modern fabric. That way if you sell it the buyer can come out with anything out of it. So we also discourage the sale of of traditional fabrics especially those that still has a ritual value to the ifugaos so we don't have to be complaining every time somebody uses it in another way and so we'd stop accusing people of committing a cultural appropriation because it in given the our market now people just buy things. It's very rare for for buyers to be okay let me understand the ethnography of this particular textile before i buy it. You know they just buy it especially now everything is being sold online so if they like if they see it and they like they like how it looks and then they buy it. So you don't go to every single customer and explain to them the meaning of the symbols, the meaning of the colors. So might as well come up with something that is inspired by your tradition but it's not but lacks the cultural context so we call this our modified ifugao fabrics and that's what we're trying to advocate to other indigenous weavers. Stop selling your traditional fabrics so you would not be complaining about cultural appropriation. Because the production is still very traditional the entire process is still very traditional and that's what that's what buyers want. It's not really how it looks. It's not because it is traditional, it's not because it's modern. They buy it because they like it. They like how it looks and they also recognize the process. Back to you daya.

Kuan: Yeah thank you. I think that's very inspiring and i also think it's very important to educate the consumer. As you say that they might think they were helping but they are not so education or educating the buyer is important. And educate the consumer is important. So i have the further question for both of you and analyn. How do we educate the consumer? Is there any further idea or any experience of educating the consumers but before you answer to this question i would like to ask professor ong regarding to the issue we we've been discussing. Do you have any response or feedback to the issues that we were discussing professor ong?

Ong: Yes i agreed the textile design the need to interpret the cultural meaning of two terms and at the same time it is necessary to interpret and understanding the meaning of each term so that they will be not be wrong. So i very much agree on marlon to teach the customer to learn what the cultural meaning of the area designs. And we our Ulay local project also promote weaving method in Ulay. So we also promote the education books and another successful example is that the famous weaving diagram pattern of the Dayal tribe is the eyes of the ancestors. I have a special experience once in the northern county city related to mrt redacted activities. A meeting they used the Dayal totem, as a footprint and the print was placed on the ground for people to step on to indicate the direction. When i knew it was bad and at the first grace i immediately to respond to the organizer and replace it as soon as possible. So the cultural meaning education is very important for this and in Dayal design there is no obvious social careers so there is this culture of control of overseas in this area but in taiwan another tribe taiwan society to to turn have difference in family society social status such as noble and commoners. So some patterns and clothes must be verified before they can be used. So maybe in ifugao also have this problem so we we need to promote the culture meaning education. This is my opinion thank you.

Kuan: Thank you. That's a very important opinion. So regarding to how do we educate the consumers is there an experience that you can share with the other communities marlon or analyn. Do you have any response to that?

Salvador-Amores: Hello professor daya hi you hear me yes all right. So one of the projects of the corditex is to come up with instructional materials that can be used by teachers and their students and the weaving communities to understand traditional weaving. For instance i'd like to share some slide of the instructional instructional material that we produce under the corditex. These are story books on weaving from different communities in the cordillera. We have the apayao, the kalinga, ifugao, bontok and gadang in the cordillera and these are stories of master weavers and their specific technique that is identified to the community. Is my slide shared already? Can you see it? Hold on yeah we can see it now. All right can you see the slides now? It's just the different story books about master weavers in the cordillera so we have we have apayao, kalinga, bontok ifugao and gadang so these are stories of master weavers and their distinct design pattern or weaving technique that we highlight in the story books to educate younger generation at the same time the consumers of this textiles to understand the meanings and how they are produced. And we also produced in the corditex a learning toolkit on how to weave on how to weave using the backstrap loom and we are actually currently distributing all of these books to schools elementary and high schools in the cordillera and other communities in order to encourage them also to document their own weaving tradition and at the same time if they know of master weavers that are worth telling to the world about this artistry and significant tradition and heritage and of course for us for outsiders who are not really knowledgeable about traditional weaving and of course to gain respect based on this stories of complexity on traditional weaving. And hopefully the goal of corditex really is to incorporate weaving in the educational curriculum at the moment especially now that there is some there is IPED education or indigenous people's education. So we would like to really go for incorporating weaving in high school or elementary curricula. There are some universities who offer weaving as a subject or as say an elective like in it used to be at the benguet state university but it has been abolished but there are some you know patches of some courses that can incorporate weaving. But at the university of the philippines at the college of home economics weaving as a subject is also offered for students working on clothing so it's a small move but of course we're trying to get greater awareness and appreciation about this particular aspect of culture in the cordillera.

Kuan: Thank you so much that's very very inspiring information. Marlon do you have any opinion upon how to educate the consumer?

Martin: Yes because we have been we're we we have been selling the we are doing the marketing of our weaving products since 2016 and there's a growing demand of our customers knowing more about our particular textiles which is it's actually a positive thing coming on the side of our buyers. So we try to in our labels we we try to do we put our short descriptions of the fabrics though we cannot do it for more common products if we are selling the traditional fabrics or fabrics with the you know traditional patterns. We would have to include the name of the weaver, a short description of the textile and in that way the the buyer can at least learn more about their purchase. Other than that we are in our online store we are having every now and then we come up with like educational information on about our woven fabrics. So we put a description of our the traditional blankets or skirts or loin cloths and we're getting very good response from from the public so i guess it's it's helping a lot in you know educating or informing other people about the deeper meaning of our ifugao woven textiles. And i see it in most products other indigenous peoples are also doing it because it's also actually enhances the marketability of of the product you know. So if people get to understand more or see the deeper meaning of the fabrics not just as you know mere fabrics then they would be more enticed or they will be more encouraged to to buy from your store. So i guess part of selling is also educating and we're making it making it more these educational parts are we're making it more user friendly. So we do get a lot of inquiries from our buyers if there are if if i'm going to use this for for a particular thing or i'm going to sew this as a dress is it okay for your culture. So we also respond to them like individually but it gets very tedious because we get a lot. We have a lot of customers and it's almost we need to hire several people to to answer individually all these queries so we're trying to come up we're still in the process of coming up with the ways of how to put a complete description of every fabric especially traditional fabrics that we sell. There's been a big improvement when it comes to the use of traditional fabrics by the outsiders now because also cultural appropriation is becoming a global issue. It's not just it's not just confined to say the philippines but a big fashion houses are actually getting called out for appropriating traditional fabrics of indigenous communities. So now everybody's getting aware of all these things. We also have other collaborators like the philippine hobby textile council. It's a national ngo in the philippines that advocates also the use of philippine cotton and you know natural fabrics and they also help in educating our in educating the public on the use of especially of traditional fabrics. And they're not just helping ifugaos. They're also helping other indigenous communities educate our buyers.

Kuan: Thank you so much. That's very important experience. I think we can learn a lot from that. We are going to go to the section of q and a so we are going to so that we can open to receive the questions from the participants. I'm going to have a stephen to take over but before that i'm going to drop in the last question for you. Do you encounter the crisis that the younger generation are losing their interest to devote or to participate or to learn to weave and if it happen how do you you know try to make the younger generation to participate or to being part of the weaving action of the weaving industry. That's my question for all of you and you are free to answer to this question.

Ong: Hello. Thank you professor daya. In Ulay weaving association young people young generation are very important target of the association and some young peoples are also daughters and granddaughters of members of the association. So the association let the young people learn to weave through a course offered by the association and find the elder teachers to teach younger one and participate in let young generation participate in other activities such as weaving festival, association, stores exhibition. And the course invited by the weaving teachers video recording etc so i think the weaving the young generation education is very important in Ulay. And i will show i will show a picture. This is the youngest weaver of the ulay. Her name is sayun and she also studies in nccu and she start to learn the traditional weaving skills. I will show the picture for you okay and let me show the picture later. Okay this is the picture the young generation start to learn the traditional weaving skill. okay that's okay

Acabado: Okay thank you professor ong. Are you showing something else?

Ong: Yes that's all that's all okay okay thank you thank you.

Acabado: Thank you professor ong. So for marlon and analyn the programs of the iped center and museo cordillera are definitely geared towards having younger generations acquire interest in these traditions. So there's still a lot of things to do and i think we're on the right way baby steps but we'll get there. So we'll go into our question and answer now. And there's the first question from tara. He is asking about entrepreneurs so in papua new guinea chinese companies or and entrepreneurs have been reproducing crafts such as balum those string bags in large quantity pushing local out of the market or marginalizing them. Do you see this happening in other asian especially southeast asian countries? Mass production of quote-unquote indigenous products swamping the market and and competing with indigenous people so basically like intellectual property infringement.

Salvador-Amores: Yeah there is aside from the ready-to-wear clothes the rtw's there is also well at some point there is a mass production. styles um yes yes all right. Aside from the search of rtw or ready to wear clothes and secondhand clothes in the cities and in the provinces there is also at some point a production a mass production of printed textiles. This means these are scanned traditional textiles that are printed to serve as curtains for bed covers or for pillowcases what have you so when this came out specifically in in the baguio markets there was a strong resistance with a group of weavers who actually resisted this one because it will actually affect their weaving the traditional way of weaving so at some point this stop production. And the local weavers insisted to actually look at the hand woven fabric instead of the printed commercially used ones at some point. So it actually affects the local weavers in that particular industry and we have to you know go back to the traditional hand looms as much as possible and we are doing this in many avenues to revive it.

Acabado:Thank you analyn. Professor ong did you see this in thailand or

Ong: Taiwan Ulay Dayal styles of weaving and these clothes should be made in china and the tourist shop in taiwan indigenous peoples often by this from thailand but the pretended to be made by taiwan indigenous people and the the original price is really relatively cheap but in taiwan it's very expensive so i think this is the mass market problem as seen in asia. That's my opinion.

Acabado: Thank you. Related to this question of mass production and recently there's a number of diaspora entrepreneurs especially filipino diaspora in north america canada and in the united states who are selling so-called traditional textiles. How do you think this timmigrant community in the global north would be able to ethically support indigenous peoples without appropriating textile designs? I think this is for marlon.

Martin: Yes it's actually becoming not just a problem for advocates you know the anti cultural appropriation advocates but it has also because it's also becoming like a problem for small living organizations and for small living communities because a lot of buyers are getting afraid to buy indigenous fabrics because the fear of you know committing cultural appropriation. So i think there has to be some kind of parameter and how when does cultural appropriation approved like i know i saw that particular textile fabric that is actually ulay from taiwan i saw that as far as paris. I saw that in croatia and i saw i see that in banawe. So at the first time i saw that i was thinking oh whoever whoever is weaving this must be so rich because you see it all over the world and then when i the last time i was in taiwan i i asked one of our indigenous friends if the fabric looks familiar and she said that's indigenous taiwanese and i was like okay so are you the ones producing this and then we found out it was it's being it's it's made in china in the mainland. So and well of course at the expense of at the expense of the indigenous group and now we're having similar issues with that because we found out lately that our traditional designs particularly the loin cloth for men is being printed and being woven in manila so that's how this one of a filipino entrepreneur in canada actually was called out by our young filipinos in the states for selling so-called ifugao fabrics when

in fact it was not. It's not even woven in ifugao. So this particular designer actually reached out which we highly appreciate her for reaching out to us and asking. Well i think it's basically she doesn't know that this were not made in ifugao. Well she had she acknowledged the product because she came up with the line of clothing named she labeled it ifugao skirts something but she was actually using printed fabrics and also woven fabrics but were not actually made in ifugao. So is there cultural appropriation here -definitely because your the acknowledgement of it's being made in ifugao being an ifugao fabric is not it's not enough to to say you are actually using ifugao fabric because in fact she bought it from from a merchant in manila. Now we are not we are not about to accuse everyone all fashion designers who are making use of indigenous fabrics as you know purveyors of cultural appropriation because it's most of the time they're totally unaware of what they're doing but you know the big fashion houses like say dkny. All these you know us-based fashion houses are actually being called out for making use of for using the african ethnic symbols for using american indian symbols which is well if it's offensive to the to the owners of culture then they would have to acknowledge that they made a mistake and perhaps reach out to the communities on how not to avoid how not to commit cultural appropriation. So when this certain designer from from canada who's also a filipino reached out to

us then so every time she wanted to buy something from us she would have to ask if she's going to sew it into a skirt or into a dress. Would she be committing cultural appropriation? So of course it was a nice gesture from her and then and we actually we opened this line of communication between our weavers and her and then we told her that not everything that we would be like subject to cultural appropriation if you use it in in a manner outside its cultural context. The bottom line for us in ifugao the bottom line for how not to avoid cultural appropriation is to come up with something that looks good. You know good taste. We had an issue recently with the a local designer when she came up with they came up with they call it bahag shorts. Bahag in in the philippines it's a loincloth and loincloths are worn by men and not women but they came up with shorts they call it bahag shorts loincloth shorts that's actually used that's actually caters to women. They haven't modified anything about our loincloth so it's like looking at a girl wearing a male loincloth and it's an ifugao cloth which is of course very offensive to infuse other other cultures who would not associate with that particular cloth would not you know they wouldn't be aware that it's offensive to the ifugaos because they don't know anything about it. So well we reached out to this designer who's based in manila and we told them that here you're not supposed to be using our loincloth for shorts women because that's it's only the male ifugaos who wear those. Well of course you can make use of it in you can make use of you can come up with a loincloth shorts but not using our but not using our traditional fabric. You know we have this local superhero in the philippines darna. You know her stephen. Darna is our version of a super woman in the philippines. She wears a loincloth so we don't have any issue about you know women wearing loin cloths. It's the kind of cloth that you wear because the woman the designer i mentioned used an ifugao cloth to be worn by to be worn by women. There's an issue there. As to having superheroes super women hero heroines using loincloths it wouldn't be an issue because they're not you know they designed herloine cloth to be more generic it's not something that is associated with a particular indigenous group. So there's no issue with that but if you make use of traditional fabrics in a manner that is contrary to the owners of the culture then that would be an issue.

So it's more of i think we have to differentiate also the contemporary fabrics from traditional fabrics today. In Ifugao you commit cultural appropriation when you make use of a traditional fabric in in a context totally out of its cultural context. Now we have our we have our traditional blankets we have our traditional skirts we have our traditional loin clothes we have blankets for the dead but these are very specific fabrics. You don't just come up with any blanket and you call it blanket for the dead you know. We have like about five funerary blankets and that's it. So you're not supposed to use them as you know a bed cover. You're not supposed to sew them into gowns or into dresses that you strut on the walkway on the in the as a fashion statement. No that's only for the dead. So if you use it and especially especially if you're a non-ifugao and you use it in in a way different from its cultural context then there's cultural appropriation. But also we our weavers also come up with modern or more contemporary fabrics that of course as i've said earlier inspired by traditional fabrics but not no longer classified. As far as we're concerned it's no longer classified as traditional because it has no cultural context except that it was woven in a traditional process. So these are the things that we sell. These are the things that our buyers can use in any way they want. So there it's not because you bought something from an indigenous community that it's already automatically subject to cultural appropriation. We have traditional fabrics. We most of our indigenous communities now in the philippines are also weaving fabrics with contemporary designs and these are these contemporary fabrics can be used in any other in any other manner so because at some point um one of our young filipinos who was going against this fashion designer told her just that not to buy anything that's woven from ifugao which is of course that would be much the detriment of our local weavers. How are we supposed to sell our fabrics if you tell that if our buyers are afraid of committing cultural appropriation? So i think we are the the fashion world is also in like a phase of transition into better understanding traditional fabrics and contemporary fabrics which is and it's improving actually their their consciousness their level of understanding. It's increasing it's it's it's improving compared say like five years ago where any fashion designer can just come up just make use of any indigenous fabric and then come up with anything. The level of awareness in the market on the use of on the proper use of

indigenous fabrics is improving and we we credit that to the academe and our advocates our community members in helping one another in educating the buyer and educating the bigger public on the significance on the cultural cultural importance of fabric that fabrics that come out of indigenous communities.

Acabado: Thank you so that goes that that there are several more questions here that um that response is related to two of these questions. So intellectual property isdefined by the world intellectual property organization and this technology this knowledge of the science and how do we define what is traditional in this sense is subject to arguments but so one of the questions here is the the presence of american indian style blankets in flea markets and that are made in china. It's a clear violation of the traditional knowledge symbols of indigenous peoples for profit so in intellectual property or appropriation is just really associated with profit and also with the use of respecting the designs the the messages. It's the cultural context of of those fabrics but um in terms of the work of museums and now again going back to museums as as western ideas how do we link that revitalization when revitalization needs to be initiated by the community so academics as people who work in museums have different perspectives and perhaps we unknowingly impose these on the community. Even if the community quote unquote revived the patterns because they were requested by the academics and curators it might not have any significance to the weavers anymore. So how do we again because of the work of museums in conserving this this heritage how do we then empower the communities who are are in need of maintaining their heritage. Professor ong and and professor salvador amores?

Salvador-Amores: Hello okay so uh like i mentioned earlier uh the museum is a platform and also a venue for collaboration with the local weavers and the community. So it is the museum also serves as a dialogue an exchange of ideas to develop their patterns. Based on the findings of the corditex there is a need to really document the weaving technique the weaving techniques because most of them are transmitted through oral tradition and this is the problem with documenting weaving tradition because there's there is a scarce documentation about the process about the this designs and technology of weaving. They are scarcely documented so the museum and all its allied disciplines for instance have to intervene to document this. The documentation will serve as a reference for the younger generation to replicate and revive their own traditional textiles in the same way that would it will also encourage. It is also a motivating force and desire to protect all of these traditional patterns and of course to enhance the integrity of this traditional designs of course for the local weaver one of the many questions that they have in mind is why do all of this research when you cannot feed food for the family. So again there's a need to produce or replicate traditional textiles the quality of the textiles in the past with the present in order to sustain the quality standards when these are brought out in the market. Of course for us researchers there's always a need to have a continuous dialogue with the local weavers what they want to do and um how they can actually engage with the communities and the market and even in the museum setup. So sometimes local weavers also may have this skill but continue to weave but it doesn't sell. So at the same time doesn't help the the the weaving community itself so there should be the intention and the desirability to have to create good textiles highlight good craftsmanship and of course even with new materials they can actually uh create using the same traditional technique. So that's a combination of you know what what they call as collective samness um for them to be able to produce beautiful fabrics and then of course that could be you know it could sell in the market maybe not or you never know us or as an heirloom piece or an artifact. Is it exhibited in the museums so there's a continuous dialogue with the local weavers of course we do not impose as researchers but what we do is to get this knowledge systematically documented their uh for the younger generation and other future scholars are working on traditional weaving.

Acabado: Yeah we have two minutes uh do you have anything to add professor ong about the role of museums and and initiatives um very very good experience

Ong: The ulay weaving association not only preserved the Dayal weaving skills through teaching performance research and the development in innovation and try to reset the traditional weaving patterns of Dayal tribe in ulay so the teachings sales and the other messages do everything so in the october of 15 there will be a ulay atayal weaving festival. We are look for this and delay invite the young generation to be the curator. So as we we are very exciting uh to join this festival and discuss with the weavers. for the follow the department thank you thank you

Acabado: So there's a one maybe just one more question three minutes and this is like marlon and anyone can respond and this is they feel this is important that the question is it seems that there are a lot of initiatives regarding indigenous community engagement that the speakers have been doing and have shared as to the weaving communities that they have worked with that does not get to be articulated in research papers or for me adding this for the general public is there a gap or a lack in the transparency of how your researchers researches are being done that does not end up being published in the academic paper circling in the research world? If there is how do you think should that gap be addressed?

Martin: I think that's more for those in for those the academy but let me qualify i'm i'm a community based heritage worker and i also work with the with with our researchers. So basically i've been working for quite a long time with the um on textiles with professor analyn salvador amores with museo cordillera of UP Baguio and recently i've started working with professor ong and also in indigenous textiles and i think well of course in in the academic world we have publications to make every time you come up every time you come up with the with research with community researchers but also i think them basically the question is so how do the local communities benefit from all this research that the academies the academy is doing. Well as for my experience as a member of an indigenous community and as a community organizer um it has been there's a tremendous support from from our researchers actually also inspired us to uh um to do more research on our own well. Basically it's not research but more of like concentrating on textiles like weaving was not a major activity of our organization but when we started working with the people from the academy and they they have all this interest in traditional weaving that's when we started organizing our weavers who are also actually farmers. So it was through the academe that we were able to access earlier literature on our traditional weaving like we've lost several uh sacred blankets of the ifugao but it was documented by an anthropologist perhaps 50 70 years ago and it was through this research that we were able to recreate this particular lost blanket. So

you see all these documentations, all the researches that people in the academy are doing can have long-term benefits not only to not only in the academic world but especially in in the community now when we talk about this revived blanket. We because we have been talking to a lot of our elders and asking them if this particular blanket is familiar and they would say you know it helps ignite community memory so they're like oh yeah i saw that being worn by my grandfather the grandfather about 100 years ago and it's something that you know they we are able to share to that to the younger generation now. Also our elderly weavers would have would suddenly recall oh yeah we know that blanket we saw that when we were kids although of course it has lost its cultural significance to the modern ifugaos now it's still part of our history and it's it gets more interesting for younger people to learn about their history if they if they see something that comes into life. You know they see all these material objects that their elders now the elder elderly weavers are trying to recreate now. So a collaboration between people in the academy and members of the local communities you know working hand in hand is is a big boost for conservation work. It's a big boost for you know letting the younger generations better appreciate parts of their culture especially those that are slowly disappearing. So we also try to encourage other indigenous groups in our country because we have this vast network of weavers who are actually indigenous weavers from as far away as Mindanao. We've never been

connected in any other way except our weaving like when we meet the yakans we meet the maranaos there's a common there's like a common topic for them among us. You know when they and if say in taiwan the first thing that struck me mostly now was when i was talking with some of their indigenous peoples in taiwan the similarities in our traditional textiles same colors same patterns and you know you get more interested and then and somehow look for the where's the connection how did how how were we able to come up with such uh a very similar fabrics. So it it encourages us it inspires us to actually learn more about our people about our the cultures of other indigenous communities. So it's all because of all these researches that people in the academy are doing.

Acabado: Thank you marlon.

Salvador-Amores: Can I respond here also? For academe we in the corditex like i said earlier are in multidisciplinary so there are natural scientists there and then you have social scientists so to respond to the gap sometimes the papers are too technical for like a physics paper or a chemist a chemistry paper on on weaving. So what we do is to really have to convert that into a more readable format such as we are having these storybooks and a more i mean manuscripts that can be easily digested using layman's term and also using the the vernacular and to transmit these findings to our local audience.

Acabado: Thank you. Thank you everyone professor ong, professor salvador amores. Paulette are you still there and of course marlon. The goal of this webinar series is to highlight successful collaboration between or among stakeholders so academics scholars and communities and we're happy to show the success stories. And so our panel next week continues our series continues our our panel five. We'll talk about history and heritage. These are mostly archaeologists and heritage conservation workers. We're having examples from indonesia two in indonesia bali and in maluku band islands and then thailand and cambodia. So it's the same time and the pre registration information is on the website. Also to those needing certificates the registration form to request the certificate is on the chat box and also if you're even if you're not requesting for certificates please continue to complete the survey. It will help us continuously improve the delivery of this webinar series so mabalos. Thank you!