Weaving And Dyeing In Highland Ecuador

Although less well known than its much-admired counterparts in Peru and Bolivia, highland Ecuadorian weaving is an Andean tradition that has relationships with these more southern areas. A world away from the industrialized textile manufacturing of Euro-American society, these handmade pieces reflect the history and artistry of an ancient culture. This comprehensive study, edited by Ann Pollard Rowe, is unrivaled in its detail and includes not only descriptions of the indigenous weaving and dyeing technology, but also an interpretation of its historical significance, as well as hundreds of photographs, drawings, and maps that inform the understanding of the process. The principal focus is on backstrap-loom weaving, a major pre-Hispanic technology. Ecuadorian backstrap looms, which differ in various ways from those found elsewhere in the Andes, have previously only been treated in general terms. Here, the basic operation of this style of loom is covered, as are a variety of patterning techniques including warp-resist (ikat) dyeing, weaving belts with twill, and supplementary- and complementary-warp patterning. Spanish colonial treadle-loom weaving is also covered. The weaving techniques are explained in detail, so the reader can replicate them if desired. Textiles have been an important art form among Andean peoples from remote prehistory up to the present. A greater understanding of their creation process can yield a more meaningful appreciation of the art itself.

The traditional costumes worn by people in the Andes—women's woolen skirts, men's ponchos, woven belts, and white felt hats—instantly identify them as natives of the region and serve as revealing markers of ethnicity, social class, gender, age, and so on. Because costume expresses so much, scholars study it to learn how the indigenous people of the Andes have identified themselves over time, as well as how others have identified and influenced them. Costume and History in Highland Ecuador assembles for the first time for any Andean country the evidence for indigenous costume from the entire chronological range of prehistory and history. The contributors glean a remarkable amount of information from pre-Hispanic ceramics and textile tools, archaeological textiles from the Inca empire in Peru, written accounts from the colonial period, nineteenth-century European-style pictorial representations, and twentieth-century textiles in museum collections. Their findings reveal that several garments introduced by the Incas, including men's tunics and women's wrapped dresses, shawls, and belts, had a remarkable longevity. They also demonstrate that the hybrid poncho from Chile and the rebozo from Mexico diffused in South America during the colonial period, and that the development of the rebozo in particular was more interesting and complex than has previously been suggested. The adoption of Spanish garments such as the pollera (skirt) and man's shirt were also less straightforward and of more recent vintage than might be expected.

The Rough Guide to Ecuador is the essential travel guide with clear maps and coverage of Ecuador's unforgettable attractions. Whether exploring the magnificence of Quito's colonial centre, haggling in its highland markets of Zumbahua or navigating the rivers of the Amazon rainforest, the Rough Guide steers you to the best hotels, restaurants, stylish bars, caf�s, nightlife and shopping in Ecuador across every price range. You'll find detailed coverage on staying safe in Ecuador, practical advice on where to learn Spanish and how to climb Cotopaxi, as well as expert discussions for Ecuador's history, culture and environmental issues. The Rough Guide to Ecuador also includes an in-depth account of the Gal�pagos Islands that inspired Darwin, plus a wildlife guide. With handy information on how to discover Ecuador's best-preserved Inca ruins at Ingapirca or the windswept grassland wilderness of the p�ramo, the guide provides definitive information on all corners of this colourful and diverse country, relying on the clearest maps of any guide and practical language tips. Make the most of your holiday with The Rough Guide to Ecuador.

This eighth volume of Imagine Math is different from all the previous ones. The reason is very clear: in the last two years, the world changed, and we still do not know what the world of tomorrow will look like. Difficult to make predictions. This volume has a subtitle Dreaming Venice. Venice, the dream city of dreams, that miraculous image of a city on water that resisted for hundreds of years, has become in the last two years truly unreachable. Many things tie this book to the previous ones. Once again, this volume also starts like Imagine Math 7, with a homage to the Italian artist Mimmo Paladino who created exclusively for the Imagine Math 8 volume a new series of ten original and unique works of art dedicated to Piero della Francesca. Many artists, art historians, designers and musicians are involved in the new book, including Linda D. Henderson and Marco Pierini, Claudio Ambrosini and Davide Amodio. Space also for comics and mathematics in a Disney key. Many applications, from Origami to mathematical models for world hunger. Particular attention to classical and modern architecture, with Tullia Iori. As usual, the topics are treated in a way that is rigorous but captivating, detailed and full of evocations. This is an all-embracing look at the world of mathematics and culture.

An authoritative guide on gender prehistory for researchers, instructors and students in anthropology, archaeology, and gender studies Provides the most up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of gender archaeology, with an exclusive focus on prehistory Offers critical overviews of developments in the archaeology of gender over the last 30 years, as well as assessments of current trends and prospects for future research Focuses on recent Third Wave approaches to the study of gender in early human societies, challenging heterosexist biases, and investigating the interfaces between gender and status, age, cognition, social memory, performativity, the body, and sexuality Features numerous regional and thematic topics authored by established specialists in the field, with incisive coverage of gender research in prehistoric and protohistoric cultures of Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and the Pacific

“Artisan” has become a buzzword in the developed world, used for items like cheese, wine, and baskets, as corporations succeed at branding their cheap, mass-produced products with the popular appeal of small-batch, handmade goods. The unforgiving realities of the artisan economy, however, never left the global south, and anthropologists have worried over the fate of resilient craftspeople as global capitalism remade their cultural and economic lives. Yet artisans are proving to be surprisingly vital players in contemporary capitalism, as they interlock innovation and tradition to create effective new forms of entrepreneurship. Based on seven years of extensive research in Colombia and Ecuador, veteran ethnographers Jason Antrosio and Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld’s Fast, Easy, and In Cash explores how small-scale production and global capitalism are not directly opposed, but rather are essential partners in economic development. Antrosio and Colloredo-Mansfeld demonstrate how artisan trades evolve in modern Latin American communities. In uncertain economies, small manufacturers have adapted to excel at home-based production, design, technological efficiency, and investments. Vivid case studies illuminate this process: peasant farmers in Túquerres, Otavalo weavers, Tigua painters, and the t-shirt industry of Atuntaqui. Fast, Easy, and In Cash exposes how these ambitious artisans, far from being holdovers from the past, are crucial for capitalist innovation in their communities and provide indispensable lessons in how we should understand and cultivate local economies in this era of globalization.

Modern-day human traffickers and art thieves extort a wealthy Laguna Beach, California, art collector, Paloma Zubiondo, by offering to release a young Ecuadorian sex slave in exchange for one of Paloma's treasured seventeenth-century Spanish Colonial paintings, purportedly a stolen painting of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. An epic tale of interwoven narratives that connects art theft and sex trafficking to the palpable triumphs and pathos of three historical indigo maidens: artist, Isabel Santiago from 1699 Ecuador; printing heiress, Maria de Rivera Calderon y Benavides from 1754 Mexico City; and social activist sentenced to San Quentin prison, Modesta Avila from 1889 San Juan Capistrano.

The hidden life of the greatest surviving work of Inca art The most celebrated Andean artwork in the world is a five-hundred-year-old Inca tunic made famous through theories about the meanings of its intricate designs, including attempts to read them as a long-lost writing system. But very little is really known about it. The Royal Inca Tunic reconstructs the history of this enigmatic object, presenting significant new findings about its manufacture and symbolism in Inca visual culture. Andrew James Hamilton draws on meticulous physical examinations of the garment conducted over a decade, wide-ranging studies of colonial Peruvian manuscripts, and groundbreaking research into the tunic’s provenance. He methodically builds a case for the textile having been woven by two women who belonged to the very highest echelon of Inca artists for the last emperor of the Inca Empire on the eve of the Spanish invasion in 1532. Hamilton reveals for the first time that this imperial vestment remains unfinished and has suffered massive dye fading that transforms its appearance today, and he proposes a bold new conception of what this radiant masterpiece originally looked like. Featuring stunning photography of the tunic and Hamilton’s own beautiful illustrations, The Royal Inca Tunic demonstrates why this object holds an important place in the canon of art history as a deft creation by Indigenous women artists, a reminder of the horrors of colonialism, and an emblem of contemporary Andean identity.