MEXICO: Native Craftswomen Harness Their Skills - IPS ipsnews.net: "It took María de los Ángeles Carrillo, a native craftswoman from Mexico, eight months to weave a decorative junco reed basket, for which she won an 8,000 dollar prize from the Mexican government.
The 32-year-old Carrillo, a member of the Kumeyaay Native American people, belongs to the Grupo de Artesanos Nativos de Baja California (Group of Native Craftspeople of Baja California), which was founded in 2004 and has more than 140 members from the Kumeyaay, Paipai, Kiliwa and Cucapá communities in that northwestern Mexican state.
'Before, the craftspeople had to wait for someone to visit their community to buy their products,' said Kumeyaay Indian Javier Ceceña, director of the non-profit Native Cultures Institute of Baja California, which provides backing for the group of craftspersons.
'They would wait for a long time until someone would finally show up and buy their products at a really low price. So we organised,' he told IPS.
The Grupo de Artesanos Nativos de Baja California is one illustration of how Amerindian groups in Mexico are using their craftmaking skills and traditions to defend their cultures and earn incomes to improve their living conditions." Jan. 21, 2011
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
No comments:
Post a Comment