The Seductive Warp Thread: An Evolutionary History of Ibanic Weaving

The Seductive Warp Thread explores, through the prism of Ibanic peoples of west Borneo, the question of why women in the distant past might have taken up the onerous yet expressive task of weaving. The book explores the history of Ibanic weaving within an evolutionary framework. It argues that there was an unconscious dialogue between men and women. Women found men were interested in their weaving. Leading males found the skills displayed by weavers enabled them to rank females for ability. The best weavers enjoyed the ranking and developed a wide range of weaving techniques to please their menfolk. They added difficulty to each technique to ensure that they were able to differentiate the skilled from the less skilled. The men responded by making woven objects an essential part of all religious ritual and ensured what weaving was sustained through the generations. Weaving became a marker of a woman's competence and her marriage prospects. And weaving probably prospered for about 1-1/2 millennia.