Kelly, R., 2020.

CORDILLERA: A Weave Learning Tool Kit

The ethnolinguistic Cordilleran weaving communities of the Northern Philippines are defined as at risk by the Organisation for Economic co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC). A British Council Crafting Futures Grant; the University of the Philippines CORDITEX project and The Global Challenges Research Fund have provided support to develop an intervention of change for the at-risk communities of the Cordillera. The Cordillera: A Weave Learning Tool Kit (LTK) provides new traditional weaving information to enable weaving communities to reconnect and retake stewardship of their textile culture and heritage. A research question: How can craft generate economic opportunities and enhance livelihoods for women? asks how a reintroduction of traditional weave knowledge via a tool kit can develop economic opportunities for women? The LTK creates a community-based pillar which supports women to play a central role within new subcultural system of practices which are enabling ethnolinguistic communities such as the Cordillera, to face and survive global socio-economic challenges and environmental change. Qualitative research supported a research methodology which included: participant workshops at the University of the Philippines in Baguio; Field research within the Cordilleran weaving communities; archive textile study; weave pattern translation and reproduction. A discourse analysis of field data enabled insights which link the loss of weaving traditions, with the diminishment of the ability of women to work to support their families and communities. The LTK provides weave tools and information which is enabling a reconnection between the stewardship of the Cordilleran textile culture by the weaving communities. The LTK has been adapted within Philippine Higher Education and K-12 school curriculum and has been tested by community groups; The project has been disseminated via the tool kit; international conferences; two book chapters; a journal article and by presentation within an exhibition at the Museum Kordiyera in Baguio in 2019.