Cultural Threads: Iban Weaving and its Impact on Culturally Responsive Art Education Practices

Intercultural awareness remains markedly under‑represented in Malaysia’s secondary‑school syllabuses, despite the country’s celebrated status as a cultural crossroads. While the official Art Education curriculum aims to nurture creativity and visual literacy, it often stops short of immersing students in the living traditions of Malaysia’s many ethnic groups. Consequently, learners’ exposure to the nation’s diverse artistic heritage can be cursory, and the subtler stories embedded in Indigenous art forms risk slipping from collective memory. Among the most overlooked cultural treasures is Iban ikat weaving, a complex resist‑dye technique practiced for centuries in Sarawak and long revered for its cosmological motifs, ritual functions, and communal identity‑building. This study, therefore, set out to test the module’s usability and pedagogical value. The module’s architecture follows principles of culturally responsive pedagogy, placing the learner in a dialogic role, foregrounding Indigenous voices, and linking traditional practices to contemporary design thinking. The module proved easy to navigate and engaging, and it substantially deepened learners’ grasp of both the weaving technique and the cultural significance behind it. Participants reported a fuller, more nuanced appreciation of Iban culture, underscoring the module’s potential as a culturally responsive tool that can help art educators foster greater cultural sensitivity and preservation of Malaysia’s indigenous heritage among the next generation. the findings underscore the transformative potential of culturally attuned digital resources in art education. By translating Iban ikat weaving into an interactive, learner-centred experience, the module bridges geographic and cultural distances, empowering teachers to teach beyond the textbook and students to view heritage as a living, evolving dialogue. Scaling such initiatives nationwide could work toward a more inclusive curriculum—one that celebrates Malaysia’s Indigenous knowledge systems and equips the next generation with the intercultural competence needed in an increasingly pluralistic society.