Creating paradise through a palimpsest of hybrid textile community-based research

Kelly, Rachel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4385-0131 (2022) Creating paradise through a palimpsest of hybrid textile community-based research. Textile: Cloth and Culture, 20 (1). pp. 39-54. ISSN 1475-9756

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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 observations, 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.