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The tin chok textile and weaving tradition of Mae Chaem, Thailand

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Serewiwattana, Orrapavadee (2015) The tin chok textile and weaving tradition of Mae Chaem, Thailand. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This thesis evaluates the unique social function, history and tradition of tin chok textiles (a weaving technique whereby the yarn is picked out using a porcupine quill), which originate from the Mae Chaem area of Chiangmai province in northern Thailand. It represents the first systematic examination of the culture and tradition of the Mae Chaem hand weavers, one that analyses and contextualises their art and provides a comprehensive digital resource. It examines the critical and analytical context of the tin chok tradition, the economic and social influences which have affected it, and its future sustainability. This project involved several field trips, to harvest oral history interviews with expert tin chok weavers, teachers and academics, who have detailed knowledge of the technique and its history. A comprehensively representative digital catalogue of tin chok textiles from Mae Chaem is presented. A corpus of historical examples was assembled from museums, personal archive collections, and publications and these are compared with contemporary tin chok textiles. An archive collection of examples of weaving was assembled, and the methods, techniques and processes of the weavers were observed closely, to enable a better understanding relative to the analysis of tin chok textiles in Mae Chaem. The techniques, significance and meaning of patterns and motif types are examined in relation to cultural and economic factors present in the wider South East Asian context. Trends, such as transition from production for the domestic, subsistence market to the global tourist industry, are analysed, and the influence of Buddhist theology, changes in Thai culture, and the undermining of weaving by the importation of factory-produced garments are assessed. Ways are sought of reorientating the end use of the woven product, with a view to offering opportunities for the tin chok weavers to create and extend a niche market.

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