Textile handicrafts: weaving knowledge and resistance in the face of scenarios of territorial reconfiguration in the Istmo de Tehuantepec, Oaxaca

Abstract

This study focuses on the way in which the Binnizá communities in San Blas Atempa reproduce a handicraft activity called Tehuano clothing as part of their family strategies, a job which contributes to the configuration of the economy and cultural identity in the Istmo de Tehuantepec plain. The results presented show that the artisan work spaces are a clear expression of gender inequality, the devaluation of work, as well as a constant invisibility of those who contribute with their productive labor to the trade of embroidered textiles. On the other hand, there are expressions of an artisan organization that strengthens the social fabric through participatory methodologies among different members of the community. This artisan activity is presented as a creative work that has transcended time through a platform of traditional knowledge and know-how, revitalizing the symbolic references in the region. The analysis implied recognizing the reconfigurationof the spaces of artisan labor through the displacement of the productive force to places that are not necessarily the original centers of production of the Tehuano clothing, due to the inertia exerted by the processes of urbanization, industrialization or the search for other labor sources.