Textile production as craft in Mesoamerica: Time, labor and knowledge

Textile production in Mesoamerica, as a process and set of relationships, has been seen as the full-time work of women but not as an occupational specialization. I take an alternative approach by considering textile production as a craft, a sociotechnical system that is a form of knowledge, a set of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social archaeology 2006-10, Vol.6 (3), p.354-378
Main Author: Hendon, Julia A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Aztec
Central America
Craft
Gender
Knowledge
Labour
Maya
Occupations
Social archaeology
Textiles
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Summary:Textile production in Mesoamerica, as a process and set of relationships, has been seen as the full-time work of women but not as an occupational specialization. I take an alternative approach by considering textile production as a craft, a sociotechnical system that is a form of knowledge, a set of techniques, mastery of a particular technology, and an educational process that is transmitted across generations, within households, and embodied in the textile itself. Drawing on multiple lines of evidence, I argue that textile production is consistently gendered female in Mesoamerica but not treated as an exclusively held body of knowledge or exclusionary activity, creating socially useful flexibility in how techniques, technology, labor, and the culturally constructed desire for certain goods are brought together. This flexibility is evident in archaeological studies of household contexts that show variation in spinning and weaving activities.
ISSN:1469-6053
1741-2951
DOI:10.1177/1469605306067841