Weaving and Cultural Identity of Batak Toba Women

Women weavers in the Toba area, North Sumatera, Indonesia, are the main key to the continuation of the Toba’s Ulos cultural weaving and the preservation of artefacts through the process of the cultural inheritance. The women are spread in various regions around Lake Toba with a variety of their unique cultural characteristics reflected in their woven cloths. However, the existence of the women weavers has not been optimally empowered as a cultural heritage with high economic and artistic value. This study aims to uncover the social and cultural mapping of the current condition of Ulos Toba weavers by identifying female weavers in the Lake Toba region related to the inheritance of traditional weaving as the cultural identity of the Batak Toba. This research is expected to be the basis for designing strategies to utilize Ulos woven artefacts as one of the cultural heritages and identities in the Lake Toba region to provide sustainable benefits for the weavers, so that they can provide solutions to the problem of extinction threats to this Batak cultural inheritance. In detail, this study provides an overview of the social and economic conditions of women weavers in inheriting and maintaining Ulos weaving as a cultural identity of the Batak Toba community, North Sumatra, Indonesia.