Andean Textiles: work and tasks that resist

Abstract

At present, the Andean fabrics continue to allow us to enter the symbolic world of their weavers and with it, their production. We can affirm that the textile activity is a work whose production is lasting, even when the garments wear out, there is knowledge and knowledge transmitted from one generation to another that continue to remain At present, the textile activity is considered as an unproductive and low value activity. Its makers (weavers / weavers) know that their production is unique and unrepeatable, hence their intrinsic valuation, and that, even if it is sold at a very low cost, its profit will allow it to survive. The problem lies in consumers, who do not know or do not want to know the value of this activity. This work will attempt to reflect on the complexity of the concept of labor and work in H. Arendt, linked to work or textile work. And on the other, to analyze its resistance, even when the textile process underwent modifications throughout a long historical process, where the raw materials, the dyeing process, the iconography embodied in the tissues, the textile instruments and the functions changed, that remained immune were his techniques.