Knitting meaning: Understanding the origin, the history, and the preservation of a traditional cultural practice of the Arhuaca indigenous community

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to understand the origin, history, and meaning that lie behind the practice of knitting mochilas, which is a daily activity of women, both young and old in the Arhuaca community. This study has been designed as qualitative and narrative in nature and is based upon an analysis of three specific cases, whose participants are young indigenous women from the Arhuaca community of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta (Colombia). The results showed how there are aspects related to personal identity, in both historical and contemporary ways that are linked to culture, origin of the mochila, its design and knitting as well as intrinsic meaning of knitting mochilas. Therefore, the approach to this study is to restore the importance of this daily activity in its development, establishment of identity and lifestyle of the participants – within the framework of Cultural Psychology – and its contribution to preservation of values, laws and significance belonging to indigenous cultures.

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