Overview
The Navajo rugs and textiles that people admire and buy today are the result of many historical influences, particularly the interaction between Navajo weavers and the traders who guided their production and controlled their sale. John Lorenzo Hubbell and other late-nineteenth-century traders were convinced they knew which patterns and colors would appeal to Anglo-American buyers, and so they heavily encouraged those designs. In Patterns of Exchange, Teresa J. Wilkins traces how the relationships between generations of Navajo weavers and traders affected Navajo weaving. The Navajos valued their relationships with Hubbell and others who operated trading posts on their reservation. As a result, they did not always see themselves as exploited victims of a capitalist system. Rather, because of Navajo cultural traditions of gift-giving and helping others, the artists slowly adapted some of the patterns and colors the traders requested into their own designs. By the 1890s, Hubbell and others commissioned paintings depicting particular weaving styles and encouraged Navajo weavers to copy them, reinforcing public perceptions of traditional Navajo weaving. Even the Navajos came to revere certain designs as ""the weaving of the ancestors."" Enhanced by numerous illustrations, including eight color plates, this volume traces the intricate play of cultural and economic pressures and personal relationships between artists and traders that guided Navajo weavers to produce textiles that are today emblems of the Native American Southwest. Winner - Multi-cultural Subject, New Mexico Book Awards
Full Product Details
Author: Teresa J. Wilkins
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.541kg
ISBN: 9780806137575
ISBN 10: 0806137576
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 15 May 2008
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
By looking at both sides of the relationship, Wilkins presents a perspective that has been missing from other studies. -- Choice
-By looking at both sides of the relationship, Wilkins presents a perspective that has been missing from other studies.---Choice
By looking at both sides of the relationship, Wilkins presents a perspective that has been missing from other studies. --Choice -By looking at both sides of the relationship, Wilkins presents a perspective that has been missing from other studies.---Choice
Author Information
Teresa J. Wilkins (1952-2014) was Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, Gallup. A weaver herself, she was a former student of weaving authority Joe Ben Wheat.
