A Search for Continuity in the Transmission of Technological Styles in Navajo Weaving Traditions

Abstract

This research investigates the role of a community of practice and its importance to the transmission of learned technological styles as reflected in Navajo textiles. How is traditional weaving knowledge manifested in technological style attributes and how do designs remain preserved By analyzing textiles produced by six Navajo weaving families, I investigate the different technological styles associated with Navajo textile production, as well as the learning networks that govern both the intergenerational and non-intergenerational transmission of weaving knowledge within families. I expand on the importance of understanding how technological styles can potentially act as identification markers in cultural material and argue that if technological variation is present, there are specific stylistic attributes rooted in Navajo culture that can identify a textile as Navajo. Together the results of this study provide insights into the traditional learning practices and social networks that preserve technical knowledge and keep Navajo weaving traditions alive.

Esta investigación explora el rol de las comunidades de práctica y su importancia en la transmisión de los estilos tecnológicos aprendidos que se reflejan en los textiles navajo. ¿Cómo se manifiesta el conocimiento del tejido tradicional en los atributos del estilo tecnológico y cómo se conservan los diseños Al analizar los textiles producidos por seis familias de tejedores navajos investigo los diferentes estilos tecnológicos asociados con la producción textil navajo, así como las redes de aprendizaje que rigen en la transmisión intergeneracional como no intergeneracional del conocimiento textil dentro de las familias. Amplío la importancia de comprender cómo los estilos tecnológicos pueden actuar potencialmente como marcadores de identificación en el material cultural y sostengo que, si hay variación tecnológica, existen atributos estilísticos específicos arraigados en la cultura Navajo que pueden identificar un textil como Navajo. Los resultados de este estudio brindan información sobre las prácticas tradicionales de aprendizaje y las redes sociales que preservan el conocimiento técnico manteniendo vivas las tradiciones textiles de los Navajo.

KEYWORDS:

• Diné
• Navajo
• ethnoarchaeology
• weaving
• textile
• technological style
• learning
• communities of practice

Acknowledgements

Ahé’héé to Ann Hedlund and Kathy M’Closkey for an extensive review and guiding my thoughts down many other weaving research paths. Ahé’héé to Wade Campbell for all your help and all the additional references. Ahé’héé to Solsire Cusicanqui for her help with the Spanish abstract. Ahé’héé always goes to my family and my shimásání for having her loom warped as I was a curious child. This research was conducted under a Navajo Nation Ethnographic Research Permit (C1202-E) and approved by the Northern Arizona University IRB (No. 12.0243).

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For this study, none of the weavers produced textiles with commercial yarn which is multiple plied worsted wool or acrylic worsted yarn (e.g. Germantown yarn, Red Heart yarn). Some families, however, used commercial wool and these textiles were included in the tabulation counts. Commercial wool is single ply spun wool or loose roving wool that is purchased from one’s local trading post. Most trading posts today sell commercial wool from the Brown Sheep Company.

2 Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO); Kennedy Museum of Art (Athens, OH); Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (Santa Fe, NM); National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.); Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian (Santa Fe, NM).

3 Note that what appears to be a z-Z cord could possibly be a very tightly spun z-S cord.

4 Lazy lines are subtle diagonal lines in a textile caused by a weaver weaving in segments (Wheat 2003:104). Tapestry joins are lines that occur when color changes are made between design elements. Three types of tapestry joins are used in Navajo weaving: a dovetail vertical join, an interlocking vertical join, and a diagonal join (Wheat 2003:122-123). Loom turns happen when a weaver weaves to the middle, takes down the entire warp structure and rotates it 180 degrees, then reattaches the warp structure back to the loom and begins weaving again from the bottom to the top (Wheat 2003:105).