| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
HAYASHI Yukio Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Associate Professor, 東南アジア研究センター, 助教授 (60208634)
MIZUNO Kosuke Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Associate Professor, 東南アジア研究センター, 助教授 (30283659)
OGASAWARA Sae Faculty of Home Economics, Japan Women's University, Professor, 家政学部, 教授 (80257071)
IKEMOTO Yukio Institute of Oriental Culture, The University of Tokyo, Associate Professor, 東洋文化研究所, 助教授 (20222911)
TAKAHASHI Akio Institute of Oriental Culture, The University of Tokyo, Associate Professor, 東洋文化研究所, 助教授 (90282706)
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| Research Abstract |
Among various types of craft industry in Southeast Asia, we have focused on that of weaving and dyeing, conducting field researches in Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Burma. Our multi-disciplinary research project, involving anthropologists, economists and arts and craft specialists, has a focus on the following cases : batik in Java and Sumatra, rural weaving industry in West Java, brocades and weft ikat in Bali, warp ikat in Sumba, supplementary weft and other types of weaving in Northern Thailand and Laos, silk production and weaving in Northeast Thailand, rural weaving industry in Upper Burma, and traditional types of weaving among Tai ethnic groups of Northern Vietnam.
Textile specialists in our research team have concentrated on Indonesian batik and Thai-Lao weaving techniques, exploring its subtle differences across different localities. Cmbining field and archival researches concerning textile designs, they have also obtained firm historical understanding of the relations
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hip between Indian and Indonesian batiks and their influence on Japanese textiles and clothes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
We have also explored the social-historical and ethnographic background of textile production in each region. With varying historical depth by regions, we have grasped for each case of textile industry the course of development and current conditions. Based on this we argue that textile industries of local, traditional nature are not rapidly declining old traditions but proven to be extremely resilient in the face of highly developed market economy in the world. In order to survive, however, they have to adjust and readjust themselves in our ever-changing world. Rapid economic growth in Southeast Asia in recent decades has caused the pattern of the consumption of local, traditional textile. Once each type of local textile had its own relatively limited market, but now the movement of these commodities becomes much wider, crosscutting the borders of local regions and nations. One of the reasons of this changing pattern is the emergence of new type of middle-class consumers in large urban centers. They purchase and use traditional textile not because of long-persisting local customs but because they are ever searching new, more distinct commodities. Therefore, what is critically important is agents of information who mediate between producers and consumers. Our research project, thus, has also examined how local, traditional textile is circulating and consumed. Less
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