The characteristics of Taiyal weaving as an art form

Abstract

The Taiyal are one of the nine aboriginal peoples in Taiwan. They had been regarded as the fiercest headhunters, and famed for their facial tattooing. The Taiyal are also known for work in rattan and bamboo weaving, together with weaving and shell bead embroidery. Weaving once had great ritual importance and women’s social status was closely linked to skill in weaving. This thesis takes the study of weaving as a key to explore the characteristics of Taiyal art, of which weaving is the principle expression. Weaving is bound to its socio-cultural context, the Taiyal egalitarian system. The method of symmetry analysis is applied to the exploration of the design structures to illustrate how certain principles of order are consistently applied by weavers in Taiyal production of cloth. This study of Taiyal weaving also conducts a comparison with other cultural art forms, both related traditions in Southeast Asia and unrelated ones in Africa. Its aim is to explore why the similarities occur in different cultural traditions by posing three probabilities, historical links, cognitive universals and technical constraints. Contemporary change in Taiyal weaving is also discussed in this thesis. The changes in textiles may be used for an evidence of the great changes that have occurred in the social environment of the Taiyal.