Teotitlán del Valle
Women Foster Changes in a Zapotec Village
The well-known Zapotec rug weaver Pastora Gutierrez Reyes made the news again last week, this time in a New York Times feature. Ms. Gutierrez, a leader for women’s rights in the town of Teotitlán del Valle, in Mexico’s Oaxaca State, was described in Lynn Stephen’s book Zapotec Women (2005) and more recently in a Truthout […]
Master Zapotec Weaver Visits California
One of the major Zapotec weavers from Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, is visiting Ventura County, California, this summer and sharing his techniques, traditions, and cultural insights through local workshops. A Ventura County news service last week published a report about the work, and the insights, of master weaver Porfirio Gutiérrez. Gutiérrez grew up in […]
A Dance that Promotes Zapotec Values
David Bacon considers the Zapotec “Dance of the Feather” to be “one of the world’s most beautiful dances.” In an article republished last week from his earlier piece in the publication Contexts from the American Sociological Association, Bacon argues that the unique dance represents the history and culture of the Zapotec of Oaxaca’s Central Valley. […]
Zapotec Women Exhibit Their Weavings in Salem, Oregon
The Mission Mill Museum in Salem, Oregon, will be opening a new exhibit of weavings by Zapotec Women from the town of Teotitlán del Valle tomorrow, February 3. Pastora Gutierrez, the leader of the women’s cooperative in Teotitlán that produced the weavings, will be attending a reception at the museum tonight from 5:30 – 7:00. […]
Cooperatives Important to Zapotec Women [book review]
Lynn Stephen’s new book Zapotec Women quickly sweeps the reader up into the complexities of textile production in the Mexican town of Teotitlán, a major weaving center for centuries. An important focus of the book is the fact that there are two different classes in the town: the people who are weavers and those who […]
