Interwoven: Andean Lives in Colonial Ecuador's Textile Industry by Rachel Corr

Abstract

Reviewed by: Interwoven: Andean Lives in Colonial Ecuador's Textile Industry by Rachel Corr Roger P. Davis Interwoven: Andean Lives in Colonial Ecuador's Textile Industry. Rachel Corr. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2018. Pp. x+219, illustrations, maps, appendices, glossary, notes, index. $55.00, hardcover, ISBN 978-0-8165-3773-0. In this well-written and engaging ethnohistory, Rachel Corr, professor of anthropology at Florida Atlantic University, offers readers a primer on the colonial Andean textile economy, details on the nature of labor within that economy, and a catalog of indigenous strategies of survival. Most significantly she also engages the dynamics of ethnogenesis as the essential context for insight into the long-term consequences for these Andean lives. The principle focus of this study is the labor patterns on the obraje of San Ildefonso, one of the largest and longest-lasting textile production centers in the Ecuadorian highlands, located in the community of Pelileo in the central sierra region of Ambato. Corr presents an effective synopsis of the fundamentals of the foundation, rise, and fall of the colonial textile industry through acknowledgment of the classic scholarship on the topic presented by John Leddy Phelan, Robson Brines Tyrer, Javier Ortiz de la Tabla, Nicolas Cushner, and Kenneth Andrien. She notes that while this historical compendium has ample mention of the corruptions and problems attending the administration of the obrajes, the history of the indigenous experience is full of "silences." In an effort to provide voice to the lived experience of the indigenous, Corr has analyzed an impressive array of wills, legal suites, notarial archives, land transactions, and administrative and church resources to bring into focus the indigenous labor experience and their creation of a variety of survival strategies. She begins her analysis with a review of the human landscape. Within the geographical confines of the region, Corr identifies a diversity of indigenous communities. In the era of the Inca, local communities of place and purpose were known as ayllu and identified by location. This category included the Pilalata, Chumaqui, and Guambalo. Added to these were communities of mitamaes, camayos, and foresteros. The mitamaes were groups relocated by the Inca administration. Camayos were members of other ayllus from different regions, directed by their leaders to relocate to acquire an agricultural asset to benefit their homeland. Foresteros emerged as a consequence of colonial rule. These indigenous [End Page 144] people were those who departed from their original ayllu to avoid tribute and other obligations. This untethered community is given formal standing in Hispanic law as a workforce administered by colonial offi-cials. Consequently, some indigenous are anchored in place while others have more fluid ties. These communities make up the labor pool for the obraje of San Ildefonso. With the arrival of the Hispanic, the local economies shift from coca production to sugar, sheep, and the manufacture of textiles. Grants of encomienda obligate the Pilata, Chumaqui, and Guambalo to provide labor for San Ildefonso. Colonial administration of the foresteros similarly ties this group to the obraje. Leaving family and routine agricultural duties, these indigenous people performed tasks of shearing, carding, spinning, weaving, and dyeing wool. Labor obligations fell on men, women, and children alike. Failure to meet production quotas often meant lashes with twisted-hide whips, withholding food, imprisonment, and the extension of the responsibility to meet quotas to other family members. Workers also incurred debts for food, clothing, and unmet quotas, and soon found themselves and their families enmeshed in debt servitude. Corr also highlights a distinct regional dynamic as obraje masters incorporated African slaves as overseers and enforcers undermining potential empathy or support from either group. Through the array of colonial documentation, Corr gives voice to the indigenous by noting their formal complaints to authority and variety of actions, both subtle and dramatic. Wives provided food and clothing to support family members in their tasks, and often stepped in to ensure quotas were met. Despite reprisals, men and women traveled to Quito to formally present complaints to colonial authorities. Foresteros, free of kinship ties, fled the obraje. Resistance ultimately peaks with the brief but bloody indigenous rebellion of 1768. Corr ultimately builds a case for indigenous strategies of survival through...