In Securing a place, author Elizabeth Morrell highlights the economic role of independent artisans in combating poverty. Leading financial institutions have promoted aid to small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) – in vogue for the last couple of decades – yet these well-intentioned policies have elided the collective economic impact of independent artisans. Morrell's intriguing case studies of Bugis and Toraja artisans in south Sulawesi, Indonesia, also sharpens our contemporary knowledge of these unique cultures by teasing out the reasons behind their distinct weavings and carvings.
Part I investigates the case of woven sarongs in the coastal lowlands. Over the past centuries, vibrant, plaid silk sarongs have come to symbolise a variety of characteristics of the Bugis (as well as two other closely associated ethnic groups). Throughout this section of the book, the author explicates how wealth, status, power, and heritage textiles are intertwined – neatly foregrounding how the artisans of these weavings figure in modern Indonesian commerce – since ‘[a]ppropriate dress and personal presentation remain highly visible signs of self respect and status’ (p. 62).
How such sarongs are woven will be significant to their sustained status. Backstrap and non-mechanised (ATBM) looms found in most Bugis hamlets are both economically important but critically different in their potentials. Government and non-governmental agencies have promoted aid to small-scale Bugis enterprises because of the numbers of workers they employ. As a result, these entrepreneurial businesses – necessarily centered on guaranteed sales – do not produce the highest quality of weavings or skilled artisans. Hired ATBM loom operators do not develop creative skills, mostly work in dark and cramped environments, suffer from repetitive motion fatigue, and earn low – but mostly steady – wages. Independent weavers using portable backstrap looms, however, can negotiate high prices for their intricate weavings and produce the highest quality of Buginese silk sarongs. Moreover, the author points out that the independent artisans continually update their weavings with innovative ideas (traditions are never static), whereas small enterprise owners are afraid to be innovative in design and use cheaper materials to maximise their profits.
In a parallel to the prestige of wearing Bugis sarongs for wedding ceremonies and official events, Torajan society is driven by death festival participation that is intertwined with the use of ancestral sculptures and intricately patterned woodcarvings. In Part II, the author explores the situation of Toraja wood artisans, in the highlands of Sulawesi. This region, although physically remote because of its difficult terrain, has a recent history of tourism that ‘initiated a self-conscious promotion of ethnicity through ceremonial activity [and related carvings]’(p. 109). Tourism begat foreign collectors who have often been guilty of a ‘stronger concern for possession than local heritage’ (p. 109). Thus, foreigners, in their quest for ‘authenticity’ have had a great effect on the carvings produced for non-local markets. Older motifs and types are duplicated rather than new ideas expressed. Once again, Morrell demonstrates how ‘modernity’ eschews innovation, preferring instead, reproduction — even though Toraja people continually update and rebuild their ancestral homes and follow new trends in ancestral sculptures. If foreign collectors could be educated to value the new aesthetics, perhaps Torajan artisans would enjoy more artistic freedom.
Morrell concludes that rural artisans in south Sulawesi are poor because they constantly struggle for working capital and need access to new markets. In order to aid these producers of quality handicrafts that sustain distinctive cultural heritage, she suggests the establishment of regional arts councils. With economic and professional assistance, cooperatives of local artisans could be formed to introduce the art to a wider audience and sell it in a larger market within Indonesia and beyond.
This book offers important research to experts in both the social sciences and humanities despite the following minor criticisms. The author does not explain her use of the term artisans as applied to independent weavers and carvers as well as to the workers in small enterprises. If she was looking to blur the acrimony between the concepts of craft and art within the environment of cultural heritage, she did not directly confront these issues. Another nagging question is Morrell's assertion of Bourdieu's concept of habitus to explain how creative expressions in Sulawesi intuitively represent, rather than intentionally construct, the local ethos. To deny initial intention of the construction of prominent cultural motifs seems to paint a rather emasculatory view of Indonesian creativity.
Despite these complaints, Securing a place secures its own place within the debate of how ‘vernacular art forms’, cultural heritage and tourism are linked to poverty reduction. If marginalised individuals can be organised, educated and aided with micro-lending, sustainable development should result through the innovative production of contemporary aesthetics as applied in the highest quality of cultural arts.
