Thesis
A thread of continuity: spiritual journey through yarn in honor of Wixarika ancestors
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2017
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102492
Abstract
In this thesis, I demonstrate how the market economy and tourism has influenced the crafting of ethnic identity for the Huichol people. Specifically, I examine how the re-imagination of sacred offerings as commercial art has resulted in a transformation in the cultural psychology of the Huichol people. Although some scholars maintain that the commodification of culture results in cultural degradation, I argue that it can result in cultural transformation which is positively regarded by indigenous actors. The meaningfulness of craft production, however, depends on the type of craft made, and idiosyncratic factors which influence the relationship Huichols have with the products of their labor. The cultural change, which has resulted from the commodification of culture, has had a heterogeneous effect on the Huichol people. For Huichols who make beaded figurines and jewelry, craft production is associated with economic hardship. For Huichol yarn painters, their practice is conceptualized in an agenic sense—a way to preserve ethnic identity in the face of poor socio-economic conditions compounded by infringements on traditional lands by external forces. Even though in the marketplace Huichol yarn paintings are sold to tourists as emblems of peyote-induced vision, Huichol yarn painters associate their practice with an imagined feeling of cultural continuity detached from the market value of the medium.
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Details
- Title
- A thread of continuity
- Creators
- Chia Tourmaline Randise-Hinchliff
- Contributors
- Julia Cassaniti (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525092901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis