Abby Borden traveled to Peru for an Institute for Field Research (IFR) in Peru. Photo courtesy of Abby Borden.
In the mountains of Peru, traditional weaving is a practice passed down through generations. Women gather to spin wool and create colorful textiles while sharing knowledge that has been part of their communities for centuries.
Over the summer, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Abby Borden had the opportunity to learn from them.
Borden, an anthropology major and Brock Scholar in the UTC Honors College, spent a month conducting field research in Peru through the Institute for Field Research (IFR).
This is what the Dyersburg, Tennessee, native had to say about her experience.
How did you find out about this opportunity, and what made you want to participate?
“With anthropology, fieldwork is more valuable than just the university classroom setting. All the IFR opportunities are fieldwork, and they’re longer. I didn’t want to go for a couple of weeks, not be immersed, and then come home.
“Out of the IFR choices, there was only one that had ethnography and fieldwork. The rest were archaeologically based. I want to go into social work, so I’m more interested in the cultural side of anthropology. This program encapsulated both.”
Photo by Abby Borden
Tell me about the program. What kind of research were you doing?
“We studied textile weaving, which was super cool.
“We started in Lima and did some museum visits and learned about the history. Then we went to Cajamarca, which is a midsize city, and spent the last three weeks in San Miguel, which is a really small, rural town.
“We would go to different weaving associations. The people who participate in traditional weaving live pretty remotely. They have their own land, take care of their livestock and have their own things to do, but they have central places where everyone comes together to weave.
“We would talk about the plants they used for dyes or medicine, and they would show us how to weave. We would shear the sheep, spin the wool and learn how to dye it.
“We also visited archaeological sites and did GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping and transect surveying. We flew drones to make maps and walked the ground looking for pottery fragments. A lot of the iconography on the pottery is also depicted in the weaving, so we talked to the weavers and saw how those traditions have evolved and how they’re connected to the archaeology.”
What did your final research project involve?
“Our final project was about ethnobotany, which is the study of how people use plants.
“The different weaving associations are pretty rural and far apart, so they have a lot of knowledge about certain plants and what they use them for. But a lot of that knowledge differs between associations.
“We interviewed them and then synthesized all of the different information about the same plants. We made a manual so the women could see how different associations use them.
“That’s a big thing in anthropology now, to not just go study someone and then leave and give them nothing or just some jargony report. We wanted to give them something tangible that would benefit them. That was our way of giving back to the community.”
What did you learn about the history behind these weaving traditions?
“We studied a lot of Incan history and how that influences the practices today.
“One of the things we learned about was the vicuña, which is similar to a llama and has really fine wool. We got to go up a mountain with the people who protect vicuñas because they’re highly protected animals.
“We also studied the colonial history and how the arrival of the Spanish influenced the region, along with the different eras of pottery and the iconography.
“The way we learned about all of this was really cool because we were talking to the people who actually lived there.”
Vicuña
What was it like living in Peru for a month?
“People were really easy to talk to. They would just come up and talk to you, especially in San Miguel because they don’t get a lot of visitors. Everyone was super nice.
“My Spanish isn’t perfect at all, but I can get around enough. My mentors and the friends I made there were pretty fluent, so I just got to ride the wave.
“The transportation was really interesting, too. In San Miguel, the markets are on Sundays, and that’s when people get their produce and fresh food. People pile into the backs of big trucks that go through the countryside, pick them up, and take them to the market.
“And the food was really, really good. We ate a lot of saltado, which has rice, potatoes, meat and produce. All the fresh food was so good. People would invite you into their homes to eat. It was very much, ‘Let me feed you.'”
How does this experience connect to your future plans?
“My favorite part is definitely the ethnographic aspect. I really like talking to people and figuring out why they do things the way they do.
“I want to go into social work, so I’m interested in identifying problems and figuring out how people see the world based on public infrastructure and the way they live.
“That’s a little different from the fieldwork I did in Peru, but the cultural aspect is definitely my favorite, and it still ties into archaeology.
“I’m planning to do my master’s in social work here at UTC. I’m starting my thesis research right now, too.”
Looking back, what was the most valuable part of the experience?
“Definitely the people I met, both the people I worked with ethnographically and the people I met from different universities. I went with no one from UTC, so I was meeting students from all these different colleges.
“We lived together hostel-style for a month, and I really value the relationships I made.
“The weavers I talked to were amazing because weaving gives them a certain amount of autonomy. Especially with the rise of media and international programs like this, the women are getting paid more in line with what they should be paid for their labor.
“It was really cool talking to the older women who have seen those changes. They have more agency now, and you can learn a lot from someone who lives so differently from you.
“That was definitely the most valuable part for me.”
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Photo gallery by Abby Borden
