Gender and the Boundaries of Dress in Contemporary PeruSet in Arequipa during Peru's recent years of crisis, this ethnography reveals how dress creates gendered bodies. It explores why people wear clothes, why people make art, and why those things matter in a war-torn land. Blenda Femenías argues that women's clothes are key symbols of gender identity and resistance to racism. Moving between metropolitan Arequipa and rural Caylloma Province, the central characters are the Quechua- and Spanish-speaking maize farmers and alpaca herders of the Colca Valley. Their identification as Indians, whites, and mestizos emerges through locally produced garments called bordados. Because the artists who create these beautiful objects are also producers who carve an economic foothold, family workshops are vital in a nation where jobs are as scarce as peace. But ambiguity permeates all practices shaping bordados' significance. Femenías traces contemporary political and ritual applications, not only Caylloma's long-standing and violent ethnic conflicts, to the historical importance of cloth since Inca times. This is the only book about expressive culture in an Andean nation that centers on gender. In this feminist contribution to ethnography, based on twenty years' experience with Peru, including two years of intensive fieldwork, Femenías reflects on the ways gender shapes relationships among subjects, research, and representation. |
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... Cusco Cusco Abancay Apurimac Yaur Caraveli Cotahuasi Caylloma Arequipa Chivay Aplao Camang Majes Yura Chili Islay Mollendo Pacific Ocean LIMA Arequipa 50 100 JKM 75 ° 0'0 " W Juliaca egua Toquégua PERU BOLIVIA Puno Lake Tricaca LA PAZ.
... Cusco and Puno to the north and east . Several of Cusco's provinces are closely connected to Caylloma : Canchis , Chumbivilcas , and Espinar . Common interests in sheep and alpaca , in particular , sustained links with Sicuani , the ...
... Cusco , and an oversize straw hat favored by chacareros , farmers of the campiña , the agricultural zone sur- rounding the city of Arequipa . Instead of a hat or underneath it , men and boys wear a ch'ullu . This hand - knitted cap with ...
Contents
Introduction False Borders Embroidered Lives | xvii |
the Crossroads | 78 |
Process | 103 |
Copyright | |
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