Heritagisation and Masculinisation of Sumba Ikat, Eastern Indonesia: A Gendered Political Economy of Heritage and Value Capture

My doctoral project examines how processes of heritagisation and masculinisation intersect to reshape the gendered political economy of Sumba Ikat weaving in Eastern Indonesia. While Sumba Ikat has historically been anchored in women’s labour, knowledge, and moral authority, contemporary heritage recognition, policy interventions, and market expansion have created conditions in which men increasingly occupy public-facing and mediating roles—such as trainers, brokers, organisational leaders, and cultural experts—through which representation, legitimacy, and value capture are negotiated. Drawing on a multi-sited ethnographic approach across weaving households, production spaces, training and organisational settings, market interfaces, and heritage institutions (including museums and exhibitions), the research analyses how value is produced, circulated, and captured; how gendered expertise and authority are learned and legitimised; and how heritagisation operates as a form of cultural governance that defines authenticity, visibility, and entitlement to benefits. By linking critical heritage studies with a gendered political economy of craft, the project demonstrates that heritagisation is not merely a symbolic or protective process, but a materially consequential reorganisation of labour, authority, and value—one that continues to rely on women’s work while often redistributing recognition and returns in gendered ways.