Weaving Identities: Construction of Dress and Self in a Highland Guatemala TownUniversity of Texas Press, 1995 - 245 pages Traje, the brightly colored traditional dress of the highland Maya, is the principal visual expression of indigenous identity in Guatemala today. Whether worn in beauty pageants, made for religious celebrations, or sold in tourist markets, traje is more than "mere cloth"—it plays an active role in the construction and expression of ethnicity, gender, education, politics, wealth, and nationality for Maya and non-Maya alike. Carol Hendrickson presents an ethnography of clothing focused on the traje—particularly women's traje—of Tecpán, Guatemala, a bi-ethnic community in the central highlands. She covers the period from 1980, when the recent round of violence began, to the early 1990s, when Maya revitalization efforts emerged. Using a symbolic analysis informed by political concerns, Hendrickson seeks to increase the value accorded to a subject like weaving, which is sometimes disparaged as "craft" or "women's work." She examines traje in three dimensions—as part of the enduring images of the "Indian," as an indicator of change in the human life cycle and cloth production, and as a medium for innovation and creative expression. From this study emerges a picture of highland life in which traje and the people who wear it are bound to tradition and place, yet are also actively changing and reflecting the wider world. The book will be important reading for all those interested in the contemporary Maya, the cultural analysis of material culture, and the role of women in culture preservation and change. |
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... traje of these other places . An example that illustrates this point is a huipil I bought for the Field Museum of ... municipal styles of dress as well as preserving the use of munici- pal traje within their own town . Before considering ...
... Traje While the use of traje to signal municipal identity is a central function of Maya clothing , it is not always the most important one . Municipal traje is neither a necessary uniform nor a mode of dress uniformly worn at all times ...
... traje is not one particularly elaborate means for doing this , at least not in Tecpán . On the other hand , women's traje is not only used to signal local , municipal divisions ; at times it can also stand for all of Maya culture . Traje ...
Table des matières
Map of Tecpán and surrounding area | 9 |
The central plaza at Iximche with its partially | 10 |
Map of the cabecera of Tecpán | 16 |
Droits d'auteur | |
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Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Weaving Identities: Construction of Dress and Self in a Highland Guatemala Town Carol Hendrickson Aucun aperçu disponible - 2010 |