Table of Contents

Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction / Eli Bartra 1
Always Something New: Changing Fashions in a "Traditional Culture" (Suriname) / Sally Price 17
The Emergence of the Santeras: Renewed Strength for Traditional Puerto Rican Art (Puerto Rico) / Norma Valle 35
Kuna Women's Art: Molas, Meaning, and Markets (Panama) / Mari Lyn Salvador 47
Connections: Creative Expressions of Canelos Quichua women (Ecuador) / Dorothea Scott Whitten 73
Engendering Clay: Las Ceramistas of Mata Ortiz (Mexico) / Eli Bartra 98
Women's Folk Art in La Chamba, Colombia (Colombia) / Ronald J. Duncan 126
The Mapuche Craftswomen (Argentina) / Dolores Juliano 155
Women's Prayers: The Aesthetics and Meaning of Female Votive Paintings in Chalma (Mexico) / María J. Rodríguez-Shadow 169
Earth Magic: The Legacy of Teodora Blanco (Mexico) / Betty LaDuke 197
Tastes, Colors, and Techniques in Embroidered Mayan Female Costumes (Mexico) / Lourdes Rejón Patrón 220
Contributors 237
Index 241

Promotional Information

Analyzes Latin American and Caribbean folk art from a feminist perspective, considering the issue of gender in the production and circulation of popular art produced by women.

About the Author

Eli Bartra is a Professor in the Department of Politics and Culture at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco in Mexico City. She is the author of numerous books in Spanish.

Reviews

"The richness of this book comes from the possibility of comparing the artistic production of different countries to each other and the ability to discern the differing ways that women produce their arts... Highly recommended."--L. E. Carranza, CHOICE "Folklorists will ... appreciate the essays that introduce aspects of belief systems that are fundamental to a critique of gender relations and also underlie the spiritual relationship of artists to their material and imagery... Many themes in this book suggest new directions for folk art scholarship in the twenty-first century... Crafting Gender is appropriate for courses on folk art, as well as on women and gender studies. It will stimulate further discussions on such topics as the variables of marketing art and cultural identity, sustainable village craft enterprises, and power plays among artists and local art collectives and government agencies."-- Suzanne MacAulay, Journal of American Folklore "For anyone interested in women's folk art in Latin American and the Caribbean, Bartra's volume is an invaluable resource, and it is a major contribution from the standpoint of students and scholars interested in art, the anthropology of work, gender and family studies, and international development. I share Bartra's hope that this anthology will be followed by many others that contribute to the discovery, understanding, and valuing of the incredibly rich creative world of women folk artists."-- Kimberley Grimes, American Ethnologist