Weaving Resilience: Economic Empowerment, Cultural Identity, and Sustainability in the Handloom Sector of Cachar District, Assam

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-561-4_31How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Culture Identity; Gender and Empowerment; Social Challenges; Community & Social Work

Abstract

This paper aims to unveil the deep interconnection between the art of weaving and rural societies’ social, cultural, and economic practices within the Cachar district of Assam with a special emphasis on the central role of rural women, and more particularly those of indigenous communities like the Dimasa Kachari. It examines how weaving, situated in a value chain from cotton farming to cloth making, rises above its economic subsistence and is inextricably linked to the local identity, dignity, and heritage. The paper follows the history of weaving practices and materials, recording the shift from the traditional, home-based, and natural towards a more extensive use of modern, industrial, and synthetic methods. In the process, this shift has taken place, weaving in Cachar remains largely a part-time, resource-constrained activity, bound to the lack of formal economic institutions and only partially discovered in the diffusion of sewing machines. The center of attention of the inquiry is the crucial, but tenuous, role of women who keep alive this cultural heritage as artisans and community leaders. The study indicates the daunting challenges facing this industry: intense competition from power looms, poor economic and institutional support, and uncertain access to markets. Above all, it faces the specter of erasing the traditional skills and knowledge embedded in the region's textiles—a threat nourished by the inexorable roller of modernization. In uncovering these intricacies, this paper aims to shed light on the paradox of Cachar’s weaving tradition: a cultural heritage precariously suspended between survival and obsolescence, yet resilient enough to be a source of pride and living for its practitioners. Finally, this research seeks to investigate the reasons behind the continuity of this old art and analyze its implications at the community level as it faces different change-causing stimulation.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Anuradha Devi
AU  - Durba Dutta
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/04/23
TI  - Weaving Resilience: Economic Empowerment, Cultural Identity, and Sustainability in the Handloom Sector of Cachar District, Assam
BT  - Proceedings of the Indo-Bhutan Social Science Conference 2025 (IBSSC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 341
EP  - 351
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-561-4_31
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-561-4_31
ID  - Devi2026
ER  -