Culture and Indigenous Craftwork by Kuna Women: A Decolonial, Feminist Perspective

• Author: Márcia Alves da Silva,Nick Ortiz,George Leddy
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221132757
• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Date: 01 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Other Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221132757

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 247, Vol. 49 No. 6, November 2022, 186–197

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221132757

© 2022 Latin American Perspectives

186

Culture and Indigenous Craftwork by Kuna Women

A Decolonial, Feminist Perspective

by

Márcia Alves da Silva

Translated by

Nick Ortiz

Craftwork, the production of embroideries known as molas, is the principal product of

the Kuna people of Panama, and it is performed exclusively by women. Kuna craftwork

sheds light on a model of social organization centered on the matriarchal. The division of

labor by sex assigns different tasks to men and women but, in contrast to those of other

societies, does not hierarchize them. Kuna communities are evidence that equality can be

established in productive relationships, and they have historically resisted patriarchal

domination (both territorial and political).

O artesanato, nomeadamente a produção de bordados denominados molas, é o produto

principal do povo Kuna de Panamá que é confeccionado exclusivamente pelos mulheres. O

artesanato Kuna traz à tona um modelo de constituição social baseado no matriarcado.

Diferentemente de outras sociedades, a divisão sexual do trabalho na sociedade Kuna separam

as atividades de homens e mulheres mas não as hierarquiza. Portanto, as comunidades Kuna

são a prova de que a igualdade se pode estabelecer dentro de relações produtivas e que esse povo

vêm resistindo a processos de dominação patriarcais (tanto territoriais como políticos).

Keywords: Women, Craftwork, Indigenous culture, Work, Kuna

The preliminary observations of this article were already beginning to take

shape when I was finishing my Ph.D. in 2007. At the time I was involved in

investigations of groups of Brazilian women working as crafters and artisans

in cooperatives organized in terms of a solidarity-based economy, and this sub-

ject continues to interest me to this day. I explored this topic by combining labor

sociology with feminist theory, analyzing craftwork as work (most of it done

by women)1 and examining the ways in which it could be problematized in

terms of feminism. In the course of these studies, I came across research on

culture and craftwork produced in Panama. This article will focus on the Kuna

Márcia Alves da Silva is a sociologist and an associate professor in the postgraduate program for

education at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas. She was a member of the team led by the uni-

versity’s dean for extension programs and culture from 2014 to 2016 and was the founder and

coordinator of the university’s Observatório de Gênero e Diversidade during that period. She is

now the head of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico research

group D'Generus: Núcleo de Estudos Feministas e de Gênero. Nick Ortiz is a writer, researcher,

linguist, and translator with experience in translation relating to Latin American history and

politics. LAP rarely publishes on Panama, but this descriptive piece was of interest to the late

Marco Gandásegui, a Panamanian sociologist who served for many years as a participating editor.

1132757LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X221132757Latin American PerspectivesSilva/CRAFTWORK BY KUNA WOMEN

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