Carved, uncarved, re-Carved: A deconstructive perspective on Sarawak woodcarving

Abstract

Sarawak woodcarving has long been discussed within fixed cultural, ritual, and ethnographic frameworks that emphasize preservation, authenticity, and continuity of tradition. While such readings are important, they risk positioning woodcarving as a static cultural artefact rather than a dynamic and evolving practice. This paper applies deconstruction as a critical and methodological approach to examine Sarawak woodcarving through three interrelated conditions: carved, uncarved, and re-carved, drawing conceptually from Derrida’s critique of fixed meaning. These conditions function as analytical lenses to examine how meaning is constructed, disrupted, and reconstituted through material presence, absence, and transformation. Drawing on arts-informed qualitative methods and visual inquiry, the study foregrounds tacit knowledge embedded in material, process, and erasure. The findings suggest that Sarawak woodcarving operates as a fluid cultural text in which meanings are continually negotiated rather than fixed, repositioning woodcarving as an active and contemporary cultural practice rather than a closed tradition.