Information notebooks Series / 2
Bespan, the yanesha word for native cotton, constitutes ones of the most notable legacies of the indigenous peoples. Its diversity and colour varieties are unique in the world yet, unfortunately, it is seriously threatened by economic and legal restrictions which privilege foreign cotton varieties.
This heritage, togethe with an iconography that has profund magical-religious significance, makes yanesha art one of the most important of the Amazonia peoples. It is being rescued and rediscovered by indigenous women and youth as means of consolidating their customs and traditions and also as an option for economic improvement.
CHIRAPAQ, Center for Indigenous Cultures of Peru, has joined forces with the yanesha communities in the Peruvian Selva Central in the recovery, reappraisal and improvement of the production conditions necessary for bespan, within a develompement concept involving territory, recuperation of the biodiversity and the Knowledge and exercise of rights enabling us, the indigenous peoples, to conduct our lives on the basis of our roots, to participate in and bear witness to the building of a diversified and sovereign country.
Editor: CHIRAPAQ
With the support of: TEBTEBBA, TAMALPAIS
June 2013
28 pages
ISBN 978-9972-679-49-0
Knowledge, Art and Indigenous Women by Centro de Culturas Indígenas del Perú on Scribd
