This article discusses several anthropological dilemmas related to the researcher’s role in community development, the scholarly responsibilities to the discipline, and the tension between activism and academic vocation. I explore these issues in the context of my research and involvement in the production of pua kumbu, a traditional Iban textile. Since 2013, I have researched Indigenous and traditional knowledge as a development tool, focusing on the pua kumbu as a central artefact which is a cultural expression of ideology around family and community but is also a product for the commercial market. It is at this juncture that I engage with the community of weavers working with the women to perform an entrepreneurial collaboration by engaging the weavers to a commercial market platform with the emphasis on the conservation of the intangible aspect of the pua kumbu.
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