Reach a reconciliation between human and nature by promoting dyeing practices of indigenous cultures
Industrialization has brought great change to human society. Economic prosperity is an undoubted advantage of industrialization. It has also increased the population and pushed urbanization. It has also benefited humans by making the production of multiple products more efficient. But we have observed the deterioration of nature at the same time. We have pushed the environmental impacts closer to the threshold limits of tolerance. We kept exploiting natural resources and producing pollution which is harmful to the environment. The biodiversity of land once preserved by indigenous peoples is now in peril. Throughout the years, the relationship between humans and nature has been characterized by tension. There’s an urgency for us to repair the relationship and indigenous practice is a good point to start.
Throughout history, people have learned to make use of locally common natural material. In the textile dyeing industry, the indigenous practice always incorporates plants as the material to produce dyes. In China, dyeing with plants dated back to more than 5,000 years ago. Among the plants used by Chinese people, Strobilanthes cusia is widely used as an indigo-yielding plant species. It also has the most commercial potential due to its high indigotin levels compared to another popular indigo source, Indigofera tinctoria. Landian Yao knowledge and practices of indigo extraction and dyeing are part of China’s intangible cultural heritage.
But synthetic dyes, which became popular in the mid-19th century, damaged the market for natural dyes. People developed synthetic techniques which made more colorful, washable, and mass-produced dyes. The wide range of colors available from synthetic dyes with good fastness properties and lower costs was the main reason synthetic dyes substituted for natural dyes (Singh, 2017). The dyeing technology change with time and consumer demand by considering the economic purposes but neglecting the environmental aspect like most progressions of Industrialization. If we are trying to promote indigenous dyeing, one of the most significant hardships will be the economic disadvantage. The labor-intensive nature of indigenous practice made it hard to survive in a society that valued efficiency. Indigo production from plants using traditional methods is a slow process compared to synthetic dyes. And this is why it is not suitable for modern and rapid industrial production. (Li et al., 2019) The economic aspect will be one aspect we can not neglect and must address when we try to discuss the crash between the indigenous culture and modern civilization. But the indigenous dyes are of the potential to win over synthetic dyes under the current context.
First, synthetic dyes are harmful to human health. Synthetic dyes can lead to health and safety risks caused by toxic mordants. For example, sodium dithionite (Na2S2O4) is used as a reducing agent in modern indigo dyeing processes and this reducing agent and its derivatives are major pollutants of the textile industry and have negative effects on human health.(Singh, 2017) The resurgence of local knowledge by using natural colorant in textile dyeing can gain popularity due to the eco-friendly advantages and benefits. A lot of studies on the textiles process also showed interest in solving the environmental issues caused by the wastewater produced during the production. It’s usually hard to solve for small local synthetic dyes production due to the high cost of wastewater management. Most plans aiming to solve the problem are not practical, because of the lack of economic incentives for industries. In other cases, there’s not enough attention put on the residual dyes and how the effluents of the process can pollute local rivers. They neglected the long-term damage to the environment which won’t be obvious in short term. So there are still a lot of problems concerning synthetic dyes not solved yet. We will need more regulations and policies to help the synthetic dyes industry. And the promotion of indigenous dyeing can possibly alleviate the damage caused by synthetic dyeing production.
A great example of the health advantage of natural dye will be cochineal which is a red dye originally produced by indigenous practice in Mexico. The cochineal dye was known because it was used for “red coats” that British soldiers wore during the American Revolutionary War. It also lost its market when artificial dyes were invented in the late nineteenth century. But when the FDA banned Red Dye №2 in 1976, many companies, especially food and cosmetics producers returned to cochineal, due to the fact that cochineal is neither a toxin nor a carcinogen. It can be very helpful for products that in everyday contact with humans.
Second, we’ve discussed the economically disadvantaged side of the indigenous dyeing practice. However, the idea of preserving indigenous textile dyeing practice and the environment can also lead to economic opportunity if we can take an innovative approach. I think an important question to ask whenever we talk about the protection or promotion of indigenous practice is what is so special about it. What makes it still valuable today even we have cheaper substitutions for it. I believe that the indigenous dyeing, including all other indigenous knowledge, has the implication for a harmonious and reciprocal relationship between humans and nature. This is also the most important reason that we should preserve and promote it.
Throughout history, local knowledge inevitable has been nurtured and naturally developed the idea of creating, inventing, and manipulating surrounding objects with creativity as the way to survive and express the craftworks without harming the milieu. Many indigenous peoples and local communities have cultivated and used nature in a sustainable way for thousands of years. The process of the traditional textiles dyeing practices involves extraction from fruits, barks, flowers, leaves, minerals, insects, and animals, which are natural sources relatable to the concept of environmental catalysis. Environmental catalysis briefly referred to as an alternative process in order to reduce the unacceptable compound and plays an important role in sustainable development. Sustainable development is one of the blueprints discussed in Bruntland Report since 1987 as environment partly issued with economic and socio as defined ‘…the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their needs has been initiated for further discussions and implementations platform. (Syahida Mat Hussin et al., 2020)
Bai people from China have used their indigenous knowledge to turn harmful invasive plants into valuable ones. Besides them, there are also many examples of how indigenous knowledge can turn something which once regarded as useless and even invasive into something helpful to humans. The root of one plant can help indigenous people cure stomachaches and the leaf of another can be an anesthetic that helps alleviate pain. There are also indigenous techniques like rainwater harvesting techniques in India, which help people in multiple ways. The idea of preserving the indigenous textile dyeing process and environment can also lead to expansion of the economic opportunities. I think indigenous knowledge is the precious experience of millions of years of a harmonious relationship between humans and nature. People sometimes tend to regard indigenous knowledge as out-dated and hard to be applicable under the current context, which can be true due to the fast development of the world we live in. But it’s can be helpful if we try to think in an innovative and creative way.
Thinking about the example of indigo, the human-based method actually used plants and produce a different texture every practice. Because they are not assigned a certain amount of chemicals to produce, the color and the texture will be different due to subtle differences in the production procedure. So there’s the possibility that the indigenous knowledge can be visualized into the tangible or intangible forms of heritage contribution in the form of artwork. Still using the Indigo dye as the example, the indigo dying can be used to create art. The natural texture brought by the plant-based dyes can be used to express ideas by the artists. In this way, the techniques can be visualized and contribute to modern society’s culture, instead of being something out-dated and simply a commodity. We commonly regarded the ununiform nature as a deficiency of the natural dyes. But it can also be an advantage when we try to think about the problem from a different perspective.
I also think the government should join this fight and help with the promotion of indigenous dyeing practice by addressing policies. Someone might argue the importance of a free market when it comes to economic problems. But the simple dependence on the free market will inevitably lead to the destruction of nature. People get economic benefits for now, but damage nature in an irreversible way. Because of the comparative disadvantage of economic benefits, the government can create incentives for more people to take part in the production of plant-based dyes. Aside from the practice of the indigenous experience, it’s also important to encourage the cultivation of plants used for dye production. The government policies should encourage the minimizing of the consequences relates to the dyeing process instead of focusing only on economic growth. It is important to consider sustainability when making a policy, especially now.
By promoting dyeing practices of indigenous cultures, we are not limited to only the indigenous practice of dyes. We can investigate more the indigenous knowledge in diverse societies and cultures which is discounted and ignored for a long time. Making use of the indigenous experience can help humans to build a harmonious and reciprocal relationship with nature. The indigenous knowledge can help the transition of existing modern industries into an eco-industrial network through successful and innovative approaches using indigenous knowledge. It might be hard to completely change the current industries using indigenous knowledge, but it can increase the diversity of industries and provide a viable solution to preserve the natural resources of the region while concurrently enhances the regional economy on a sustainable basis. I can see a more sustainable world in which people truly appreciate the beauty of indigenous culture and nature and make use of it.
References:
Li S, Cunningham AB, Fan R, Wang Y. Identity blues: the ethnobotany of the indigo dyeing by Landian Yao (Iu Mien) in Yunnan, Southwest China. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 2019;15(1). doi:10.1186/s13002–019–0289–0
Liu Y, Ahmed S, Liu B, Guo Z, Huang W, Wu X, Li S, Zhou J, Lei Q, Long C. Ethnobotany of dye plants in Dong communities of China. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 2014;10(1):23. doi:10.1186/1746–4269–10–23
Morishige K, Andrade P, Pascua P, Steward K, Cadiz E, Kapono L, Chong U. Nā Kilo ʻĀina: Visions of Biocultural Restoration through Indigenous Relationships between People and Place. Sustainability. 2018;10(10):3368. doi:10.3390/su10103368
Singh L. Biodegradation of Synthetic Dyes: A Mycoremediation Approach for Degradation/Decolourization of Textile Dyes and Effluents. Journal of Applied Biotechnology & Bioengineering. 2017;3(5). doi:10.15406/jabb.2017.03.00081
Syahida Mat Hussin N, Rasdan Ismail A, Abdul Kadir N, Wahida Hasbullah S, Hassan H, Jusoh N. Resurgence the Local Knowledge: Environmental Catalysis Practiced in Local Textile Dyeing. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 2020;616:012043. doi:10.1088/1755–1315/616/1/012043
