Bachelor thesis | South and Southeast Asian Studies (BA)
open access
Because of the geographical location of the Indonesian island Java, it was soon exposed to the well-developed textile industry on the Indian subcontinent, leading to an extensive exchange of...Show moreBecause of the geographical location of the Indonesian island Java, it was soon exposed to the well-developed textile industry on the Indian subcontinent, leading to an extensive exchange of textiles. Java established a small scale indigenous resits dyeing industry, named batik. Over the centuries, batik developed to high artistic levels on Java and unlimited pattern variations were created. But, most of the circulating textiles in Java were imported from India. By the end of the seventeenth century, the demand for Indian textiles vanished, and the indigenous Javanese textile industry emerged fast. Some argue that the demand for Indian textiles at the end of the seventeenth century had decreased by the impoverishment of the Javanese after years of Dutch dominance. But, I argue that the Dutch had an important role in providing stimuli in the eighteenth century, which eventually led to the commercialisation and growth of the batik industry in the nineteenth century. With developments such as inventions as the cap and canting pen, available artificial dyes, Dutch stimulation of Chinese migration who participated in the textile industry and the Indo-European female entrepreneurs who started batik commercial centres as a reaction to the high global demand for batik, the fabric was able to evolve as we know it in current times.Show less
Textiles serve as a medium in the migration of cultural elements between civilizations since ancient times. This study seeks to investigate the migration of cultural aspects through textiles from...Show moreTextiles serve as a medium in the migration of cultural elements between civilizations since ancient times. This study seeks to investigate the migration of cultural aspects through textiles from India to Java between the first millennium and the eighteenth century, and from Java to Santiniketan, a town in Bengal, in the Indian subcontinent, in the early twentieth century. These regions shared an intriguing history of textile exchange during the periods mentioned. The case study will be a resist-dyed fabric called batik, which is popular in Bengal as well as Java, and the focus will lie on design elements such as motifs and patterns. Scholarly literature on the origin and evolution of batik in Java emphasize on the processes of ‘diffusion’, ‘adaptation’, and ‘acculturation’, while discussing foreign influences. These theories discuss the dissemination and the transformation of Indian foreign design elements in the recipient Javanese culture, but to a limited extent. In the case of Santiniketan batik, scholarly focus lies on describing batik as an indigenous tradition. Though Javanese inspiration is accepted, the transmission process from Java is not adequately dealt with. Interestingly, both in the case of Javanese batik and Santiniketan batik, foreign influences were transformed to an extent that they became ‘native’ in the local context. This thesis seeks to justify the significance of the process of ‘naturalization’, that is, the process of inclusion and transformation of foreign motifs and patterns in the context of the receiving culture to an extent that the original source of dissemination becomes of secondary importance.Show less
