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The
Ceramics of Ráquira, Colombia
Gender,
Work, and Economic Change
by Ronald J. Duncan
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this Book now
Ronald Duncan explores the ways that male gender power combined
with capitalism to bring about sweeping economic changes and the
transformation of a centuries-old tradition of women's ceramics
in the Andes.
In the village of Ráquira, Colombia, two pottery-making styles
coexist: while devoting time to domestic tasks, women make
traditional cooking pots and water jugs in the same style and
with the same hand-working techniques they've used since before
the time of Columbus; in contrast, men--working full-time in
shops established in the last 50 years--mass-produce planters and
other ware, using molds and potter's wheels in a style of
primarily Spanish origin. Throughout the community, men control
capital and have greater mobility in marketing their products;
many women have become assistants to their husbands. Along with
discussion of this contrast between cultures, the book raises the
issue of whether indigenous pottery in Ráquira--highly prized by
collectors--will completely disappear in the next century.
Filling a gap in village ethnography, this is the first major
publication in English on the traditional ceramics of Colombia.
It offers both a history of the craft, illustrated with 40
photographs, and a compelling discussion of how individuals,
families, and communities respond to historical, economic, and
personal change.
Ronald J. Duncan is professor of anthropology at Oklahoma Baptist
University. He is the coauthor of The Art of Shamanism,
Health and Life: Tumaco/La Tolita and has written
extensively in Spanish on ethnicity and social change.
1998. 304
pp. 6 X 9.
40
b&w photos, 3 drawings, 3 maps, 11 tables, appendix,
glossary, bibliography, index.
ISBN
0-8130-1615-0
Cloth,
$59.95
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"A well-written and well-illustrated treatise that introduces the broader anthropological community to an important ceramic-producing region and how its ceramic industry has coped with rapid socioeconomic change."--
Latin American Antiquity
"Introduces vital information about pre-industrial craft specialization and its transformation in the modern world."
--Cultural Survival Quarterly
"Makes an important contribution to the ceramics of Latin America because it documents the profound social embeddedness of peasant craft production and shows how this embeddedness exerts a significant role in the evolution of the craft."
-- Royal Anthropological Instititute
"An impressive work. It is an
exhaustive study of all aspects of pottery making. . . . Its
discussion of the technical and economic aspects is noteworthy
and thorough [and] its treatment of the cultural and gender
context is superb."--Miles Richardson, Louisiana
State University
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