Creating Paradise Through a Palimpsest of Textile Higher Education and Community-Based Research

Abstract

The Cordillera region of the Northern Philippines features ethnolinguistic weaving traditions which are now moving towards extinction. A practitioner-led research project developed a weaving tool-kit to support the preservation of weaving traditions, but further questions regarding the status of women textile workers arose as a result. The habitus of the researcher as a part-time textile lecturer created an interweaving between the differing, yet connected project participant experiences. Discourse analysis of participant observation data, community workshop reflections and documentary photography enabled a methodology to evolve which articulates the raw understandings this research raised. A research question asked: How can craft generate economic opportunities and enhance livelihoods for women? The findings and end point of this article propose that Bourdieu’s theories of practice are a useful framework through which textile workers can understand more clearly the different forms of capital their roles embody.