Author: Jennifer Harris, editor. 2010. 320pg. (English)
Publisher: British Museum, London.
5000 years of Textiles is an authoritative reference and a visual delight with examples from the Far East to the Americas, from Africa to Scandinavia, and from Egyptian artifacts dating from 3000 BC to the most up-to-date modern craftwork and furnishings. The book includes an expert guide to nine fundamental textile techniques, from rug weaving to tapestry to felt and bark cloth. Each is clearly explained, using the drawings and close-ups color details from actual textiles, to show how people from many different traditions have made and decorated cloth through the centuries.
Author: Dinny & Nina Yusuf, 2016. 55pg. (English)
Publisher: Yayasan Toraja Melo, Jakarta
The catalog asserts the impactful journey of the Toraja Melo Foundation, which has been empowering weavers since 2009, beginning in Mamasa, West Sulawesi, and expanding to Adonara and Lembata. Currently, Toraja Melo directly supports 1,000 weavers, confidently equipping them for the global market through targeted capacity-building programs that focus on motif revival, innovative textile design, and the development of superior textile gift products.
Author: Christiane Moser, 2011. 136pg. (English)
Publisher: Swisscontact, Zurich.
This travel guidebook to Flores provides essential and accurate information about the Flores people and their rich culture. It's an invaluable resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of this remarkable destination.
Author: Horst Henry Geerken, 2011. 360pgs. (English). Softcover
Publisher: Kompas Gramedia, Jakarta
The volume under consideration is a translation from the original German, authored by Geerkens, who resided in Indonesia for eighteen years until 1981. In this work, the author reflects upon his prolonged engagement with the Indonesian archipelago, offering a personal yet historically situated account of life during a period of profound political turbulence. Central to his narrative is the contested backdrop of the attempted coup of 30 September 1965. While the precise circumstances surrounding this event remain the subject of considerable scholarly debate, Geerkens acknowledges the multiplicity of theories that have emerged. Subsequent publications and declassified documents, however, increasingly suggest that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) exerted far less influence than was initially presumed, whereas the involvement of external actors—most notably the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)—appears to have been substantially greater than earlier assessments indicated. Beyond its political implications, the book provides a vivid portrayal of the lived experiences of a foreigner navigating Indonesian society during a time of upheaval. These recollections resonate with many Indonesians who endured or inherited the legacies of that era, thereby situating Geerkens’s testimony as both a personal memoir and a valuable contribution to the broader historiography of Indonesia’s mid-twentieth-century transformations.
Author: Kees van Brakel, David van Duuren, & Itie van Hout, 1996. 127Pgs. (English). Softcover.
Publisher: Royal Tropical Institute/Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam
This volume constitutes a luminous exploration of Southeast Asian cultural heritage. It traces the intellectual and aesthetic journey of a devoted collector active in the 1930s, whose passion for preservation is revealed through an arresting assemblage of historic textiles, sculptural works, and sacred artifacts. The richly curated photography not only documents material artistry but also illuminates the spiritual and social dimensions embedded within these objects. As such, the work transcends mere visual cataloguing, offering instead a specialized compendium that is indispensable to cultural anthropologists, art historians, and scholars of Southeast Asian studies.
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