Threads of Life: Indigenous Textile Artisans in Vietnam’s Cultural and Creative Economy
Thanh drawing patterns with beeswax
Indigo-dyed fabrics hanging to dry
Villagers harversting hemp
My research examines textile-making as an economic and creative activity in the Black Hmong community in Pà Cò, a highland area known for natural-dyeing in Vietnam. A culturally significant material, Hmong textiles became an important commodity following Vietnam’s ban of opium, an important cash crop of many indigenous highland communities, and the opening of highland tourism in the 1990s. In the past decade, Vietnamese designers have increasingly sought to work with indigenous communities who maintain their tradition of handmaking textiles from natural materials. Hmong women in Pà Cò thus become key players in this eco-fashion movement for their natural-dyeing expertise.
I interviewed two Hmong artisans who play important roles in these networks of textile trade and collaborations. Their life histories will be presented in interview recordings and written description, complemented by photographs of their products and process. Their experiences carry important insights into textile-making as commercial and creative activities and the impact it has on their lives. Belonging to two different generations, the two women have different business models and experiences working with clients, but both agreed that the textile economy has offered them some financial stability and social recognition. However, the growing popularity of natural dyeing in Vietnam does not always translate into fair and sustainable benefits for the artisans, as they face market fluctuations and increasing competition. Their stories reveal a picture of the cultural and creative economy of traditional crafts that is much more complex than its usual representation as a panacea to cultural and socioeconomic issues.
Description of Materials
The transcripts are of the longer interviews that I managed to do with the two artisans, but their life stories were also revealed gradually throughout spontaneous daily conversations. It was difficult to get the chance to sit down and have hours-long uninterrupted interviews with villagers here in general, as farming, house chores, and social obligations tend to keep them busy.
The complementary photographic materials offer some glimpses into their process of making textiles, including harvesting hemp, making indigo paste from the plant leaves, dyeing fabrics, drawing beeswax patterns, washing the wax off the fabrics, and making finished products. They also show the artisans’ incredible creativity, as they constantly update and expand their repertoire of patterns, as well as make technical innovations to create new products (e.g. using pre-made stamps instead of the traditional pen for beeswax patterns, washing the fabrics after several rounds of dyeing to increase colorfastness). There are also several photos of vintage garments handmade with materials no longer commonly available and now kept as family heirloom to be passed down to daughters/granddaughters as their future dowry.
- Transcript of Interview with Mùa Y Gánh
My first interlocutor, Mùa Y Gánh, is now in her 60s and was a prominent member of the local women’s association. Born in 1968, raised in the nearby Co Lóng and married into Pà Cò, she led a group of artisans in the earliest textile-based development project in the region. She had previously searched for market outlets for the textile products handmade by her and other village women. She was chosen as the group leader when a Vietnamese social enterprise started to recruit local Hmong women to work on commissioned textile products in 1996, mainly souvenirs and home décor items, with the goal of preserving Hmong textile traditions while improving the women’s economic security after the 1993 ban of opium, an important cash crop among local highlanders. Later she opened classes teaching young Hmong girls to produce market-oriented textile products. The social enterprise Gánh works with also organizes annual trade fairs where artisans are invited to sell their products directly to customers. It was at these fairs that many artisans found new clients, some of whom they have maintained partnerships with for years.
- Transcript of Interview with Sùng Y Thanh
Sùng Y Thanh, my other interlocutor, is one such artisan. The 1991-born woman, like most other women here, is from a nearby village but married into the community. She is also Gánh’s in-law-relative. Like many other women in the village, she joined the textile group that Gánh was leading after having her first child in order to take care of her family. When Gánh took her along to participate in a trade fair, a designer took interest in the unique patterns Thanh created. That was the beginning of their decade-long partnership. The success of their collaborations has made Thanh a well-known name in the natural-dyeing circle and brought her more clients.
As the two women come from different generations and joined the textile trade at different times, they have different business models and experiences working with clients. However, both agreed that these opportunities have changed their lives for the better thanks to the financial stability and social prestige it provides.
Grantee Bio
Chi Yen "Ichi" Ha (she/they) is a PhD student in Cultural Anthropology at University of California, Riverside (UCR). She holds an MA in Southeast Asian Studies from UCR (2022) and a BA in International Studies/Cultural Psychology from Trinity College, CT (2016). Her research foci include indigeneity and ethnicity, textiles and material culture, creative economy, posthumanism, political ecology, political ontology, and ethnic minority issues in Vietnam as well as in Southeast Asia. She has also been actively involved in ethnic minority rights movement and community-based development in Vietnam since 2019. Her current project examines the natural dyeing collaborations between ethnic minority artisans and Kinh designers in Vietnam’s growing eco-fashion movement.
Questions? Get in touch with Ichi: cha023@ucr.edu .