Thursday, April 26

This morning I walked Rita to Na Bolon, the home of Franz Blom and Gertrude Duby that has been made into a museum and research institute. Rita noticed that a room had been opened with a small exhibit of Chiapas traje. I was very happy to see chronological arrangement for three displays: Aldama, Chamula and ZInacantan. Usually Chiapas traje is represented as timeless and unchanging, but here the dramatic changes became obvious. This is especially so at Zinacantan (see photo) where the explosion of complex design may be due not only to the more industrialized technology of aniline dyed threads and machine embroidery, but also perhaps to a greater influx of wealth through tourist dollars and a broader investment in floriculture.

Later I met Sara for a visit to a weaving workshop using large European style looms. These are variously called floor, foot, treadle and pedal looms. We were told to go through the Los Arcos hotel to the workshop in back. When we went inside, we found two men in the process of weaving fabric and two others involved in the more tedious process of attaching cords to the treadles. We spoke to the elder of two men involved the weaving process. He turned out to be a kind of foreman of the workshop, the longest standing employee also in charge of ordering threads. We noticed the punched cards that program the design, and he noted that these have been in use for quite a long time, sometimes requiring repair. We also commented on how physically demanding the process seemed to be. He admitted this and other difficulties, but also showed that he was proud to have been put in charge of the workshop.

In the afternoon I participated in Rita's last Spanish literature class, in which we returned to the Castellanos book and disscussed it in relation to the preface and afterword. Rita also asked me to comment on the story told in the last chapter, which is a bricolage of elements from the Maya Popol Vuh as well as Greek mythology and both the Old and New Testament. I argued that this section was stylistically quite distinct from the rest of the book and wondered if it had been added. I also argued that it might be designed as subtle critique of magic realism.

After the break, Rita asked students to meet in groups and then report to the class on what they understood as the major themes, threads, or accomplishments of the course. The discussion was very lively and most contributed. Prominent among the themes was the importance of local conditions and the intricately interwoven power relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups which we not only read about in the book but also took part in as non-Indigenous tourists visiting and even holding class in an Indigenous community (Chamula).