Weaving Wisdom: Community Learning Through Wool Crafts

Fabiola Hernandez Cervantes

Wixárika crafts are a testament to resilience and adaptability, they have been preserved since pre-Hispanic times. The evolution of some of these over the past century, influenced by global movements in the 1960s, has created a niche for Wixárika art and craft. Influenced by tourism, new styles, colors, and symbols have been introduced, serving as a form of resistance against the erasure of traditional knowledge and practices 500 years after the colonial period. Tsik+ri has gained global popularity as a method to create decorative geometric yarn pieces, but this craft not only provides insights about Indigenous cultures, experiences, and embodied knowledge, but also raises discussion about land and cultural appropriation by non-Indigenous individuals. In this exposition, I present a series of workshops held in the region of the Arctic Circle, where a development project is taking place to improve and enhance the use of sustainable wool by revitalizing craft heritage in a multicultural way. The method of this study is Art-Based Action Research. The study makes visible an essential feature of this textile artifact: its ability to transcend geopolitical and cultural borders, embodying a unique fusion of heritage and contemporary design. Indigenous craft practices from the Mesoamerican Wixárika culture, such as the Tsik+ri, are rooted in the multicultural identity of Mexico. The workshops served as platforms to communicate the culture and challenges of Wixaritari to Arctic and international contexts. This research sustains that implementing craft practices in the context of contemporary art requires profound knowledge and respect for its origins.

Weaving Resilience

The Wixárika, are one of the nomadic Indigenous peoples from the western and central Mexico (INAH, n.d) and have become one of the most recognizable Indigenous groups both in Mexico and abroad (Le Mür, 2018); their cosmology, distinct iconography, color associations, traditions, and practices have remained almost intact since pre-Hispanic times (Negrín, 1979, p. 17), they are one of the Indigenous groups in Mexico with the highest percentage of monolingualism (Corona, 2002).

Mexico is the country in the Americas with the largest Indigenous population, with 68 native languages spoken in its territory (Sanchez, 2024). A large part of the population has connections with the Indigenous peoples. In addition, throughout the 500 years after the Spanish invasion, a merged identity has been formed, a result of the processes of assimilation (Dussel, 2012), but also a valuable syncretism that has allowed many traditions to remain intact, highly influenced by Indigenous cultures and many other new traditions to emerge.

A recent study of Mexican-American people revealed 85%–90% of maternal DNA lineages are of Native American origin (Kumar et al., 2011, p. 2). Even so, Indigeneity in Latin America has been continually shaped by a colonial legacy rooted in racial mixing (Castellanos, 2017, p. 778) that we categorize under the Spanish term mestizaje. It is worth mentioning that the mestizo population is the dominant group in Mexico, and it encompasses people of mixed heritage, descendants of Native American and European–Spanish–ancestors. Different censuses estimate that between 64% to 90% of the population has, to some extent, Indigenous heritage (Cline et al., 2024, INEGI, 2020).

The concept mestizaje (Span. lang.) refers to the blending of Indigenous and European ancestries, which are key elements in the cultural and historical narratives of Latin American countries. The mestizo identity was constructed as the basis of modern Mexican national identity (Dussel, 2012). While this study recognizes the significance of mestizaje in shaping Mexican identities, a deeper exploration falls beyond the scope of this article.

Nonetheless, it is essential to mention that according to the classification of Indigenous peoples and their members in Mexico, there are three criteria to be considered a member of an Indigenous group, the first is related to the language and Indigenous language speaking status, the second is self-adscription, and the third is a family member speaking an Indigenous language per household (COPRED, 2017).

The third criterion leads us to a bias, as membership is imposed on all members of a household, even when some people, especially the youngest ones, no longer recognize themselves as Indigenous due to a process of transculturation (COPRED, n.d.). Furthermore, they leave out people who have been forced to learn the dominant language or hide their heritage to avoid discrimination (Solís et. al., 2019).

On the contrary, many people who are proud of Indigenous cultures and their roots have responded that they did consider themselves Indigenous, despite not speaking their language (COPRED, n.d.), as it is estimated that of the total population who consider themselves Indigenous, 30.8% speak a native language, while the remaining 69.2% don´t (INEGI, 2020). This indicates that self-ascription does not imply using, understanding or knowledge of any Indigenous language.

However, according to the Political Constitution of Mexico (INDESOL, 2021), Indigenous peoples are “those who descend from populations that lived in the current territory of the country when colonization began and who preserve their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, or part of them” (COPRED, n.d.).

Along with language barriers, cultural appropriation and ethnostress (Antone & Hill, 1992), the Wixarika have been fighting against land exploitation and extractivism for decades. In Mexico, there are currently 3,123 mining establishments (Servicio Geologico Mexicano, 2021), with around 150 foreign companies, mainly from Canada (Fundar – Centro de Análisis e Investigación, 2023).

Land exploitation and mining are a direct threat to the sacred territories of Wixáritari (Ramos, 2011), who have faced a spiritual crisis defending their ancestral rights. Their sacred area is known as Wirikuta, Cerro del Quemado– a region where every year, hundreds of Wixáritari leave their communities in western Mexico – Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas – and begin a pilgrimage to Wirikuta, in northern San Luis Potosí (Paley, 2011) (Figure 9).

Figure 9. Map of Wirikuta, digital drawing by Cervantes 2024. Source: Pueblos Originarios, n.d.

In 2008 the government of Mexico signed the Huaxua Manaka pact to protect and preserve the historical continuity of the sacred places of the Wixáritari. However, despite the pact, in 2010, the Mexican government granted concessions to several Canadian mining companies to explore and exploit the area, a semi-desertic natural reserve of 140 thousand hectares rich in gold and silver in the state of San Luis Potosí. Mexico is the number one producer of silver in the world, producing around 199 million ounces of silver in 2022 (Jaganmohan, 2024; Anthony et al., 2022).

The Canadian company First Majestic Silver obtained concessions for mining and launched a program of aggressive exploration and excavation (Huicholes Film, 2014). A decade later, in 2022, Wixárika communities held an open dialogue with the Mexican president López Obrador, who approved the Peace and Justice Plan for Wixárika (INPI, 2022).

The lack of opportunities is another struggle for Wixárika communities, as many young Wixáritari search for jobs in cities, losing their connections to their culture, often completely severing their roots (Negrin, 1979, p. 24). Furthermore, the commercialization of their crafts, which until a few years ago, was of an exclusive ritual nature, is now threatened by the loss of symbolism and meaning, as very often, the people who produce crafts and objects are semi-urbanized Wixáritari who continuously create and recreate their culture to adapt to the demands of touristic products (Le Mür, 2018).

Indigenous visual arts often depict colonial experiences, such as resistance, the struggle for sovereignty, dispossession, cultural assimilation and resilience (Cunneen, 2017, 2010). The rebirth of Indigenous craftsmanship in contemporary art, design and craft is proof of the resilience of Indigenous communities worldwide (Sydora et al., 2023), acting as a medium to face the challenges of cultural appropriation and cope with ethnostress, identity confusion, and loss (Antone & Hill, 1992). Crafting can also represent covert action in a protest and resistance context (Fitzpatrick & Reilly, 2019).

Wixárika art has been transformed along with the rise of tourism (Le Mür, 2015). While the commodification of their crafts is driven by the demand for "authentic" and "exotic" items, this has led to important changes in the designs, styles, materials, and how they commercialize their art. They have adapted well to these changes. Many view these phenomena as a form of cultural appropriation. Nevertheless, according to Le Mür (2015), Wixáritari artisans can assert their identity, profit from their crafts, and reclaim their culture through these exchanges.

Wixárika crafts are not only aesthetic or religious expressions. They represent a political statement that asserts their sovereignty and cultural endurance. By continuing to create and recreate their craft, they reclaim their identity in the face of a capitalistic world that commodifies and appropriates everything. Craft-making is a type of cultural resistance.

Artistic crafts and textiles have become a relevant canvas for narratives that deal with topics of ethnostress, when, for example, oppressive conditions are forced upon people in their own environment (Antone & Hill, 1992), or when, for instance, communities are constantly reacting to threats, racism and discrimination, land appropriation, and other adverse situations. One of the most common definitions of resilience is “positive adaptation despite adversity” (Fleming & Ledogar, 2008). However, the notion of resilience that has emerged in recent years requires “addressing the distinctive cultures, geographic and social settings, and histories of adversity of indigenous peoples” (Kirmayer et al., 2011).

In addition, what Albrecht (2005) described as solastalgia, creates a collective feeling among Indigenous communities, as it has become evident that their ways of life are being threatened by resource exploitation and environmental degradation, and the distress produced by this has an impact on people whose crafts are often place-bound and reflect a deep spiritual connection to the land (Al-Mansoori & Hamdan, 2023, p. 66).

The world needs more sustainable practices, and Indigenous knowledge is rooted in systems emphasizing sustainability and environmental stewardship (Al-Mansoori & Hamdan, 2023). We must promote the incorporation of Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing, hence, the importance of sustaining platforms, events, and opportunities - for example, in the form of craft workshops with open discussions - where it is possible to dialogue, recognize and understand the unique contexts and stories of resilience faced by Indigenous peoples. For instance, in Wixárika communities, knowledge is transferred orally (Kantonen, 2019), as their language has an oral origin and there is a scarcity of written material available (Salvador & Corona, 2002).

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