Congratulations are due to forum member Vernon Kedit for his very interesting article in the latest Borneo Research Bulletin (BRB) Vol. 40 2009 which was published recently. The article is "Restoring Panggau Libau: A Reassessment of Engkeramba' in Saribas Iban Ritual Textiles".
BRB is published out of the USA by the Borneo Research Council, website
http://www.borneoresearchcouncil.org/ Copies of BRB are available at $30 per copy or a year's membership, also $30, includes a copy of the BRB. Various other articles in this edition may be of interest including "A Cambridge Anthropologist in Borneo: The A.C. Haddon Photographic Collection, 1898-1899" by Cambridge Research Fellow Liana Chua.
For those of us who have followed Vernon's careful, detailed and helpful discussions on pua kumbu on this forum his BRB article draws together in (very much more) detail some of the information that he has shared with us here. Engkeramba' are the anthropomorphic forms in Iban textiles which more recent research ("Iban Ritual Textiles" by Traude Gavin, Singapore University Press, 2004) has, as Vernon notes, largely dismissed as "space fillers, mere cartoons, or insignificant dolls". For Vernon - "an Iban who is an eighth-generation descendant of at least five generations of master Saribas Iban weavers" this "runs counter to some of the most fundamental adat of our weaving tradition."
Accompanying the detailed discussion are some excellent photos, albeit in black and white and reproduced on paper that is not the best surface for photo reproduction.
All in all very much to be recommended as a fascinating read!
_________________
Pamela
http://www.tribaltextiles.infoon-line tribal textiles resource
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