Sjalel Lekil Kuxlejal: Mayan Weaving and Zapatismo in Design Research

Abstract

Situated in the highlands of Chiapas, southeast Mexico, this research seeks to contribute to decolonising textile artisanal design and the recogni:on of Indigenous design alongside Mayan Tsotsil and Tseltal weavers in search of a fair-dignified life, Lekil Kuxlejal. Using tex:les as sources of rich knowledge and research metaphor, a woven methodological approach is developed by interlacing decolonial theory and design from the Global South. Furthermore, drawing from Indigenous onto-epistemologies such as corazonar, Zapa:smo and Buen Vivir (good living, collec:ve well-being), this study presents a new approach to tex:les as resistance combined with Mayan cosmovision, and is in alignment with the autonomía of the independent collec:ve Malacate Taller Experimental Tex:l. For this reason, the Zapa:sta principles of Mandar Obedeciendo (Leading by Obeying) have been used as research guidelines, and are intertwined with the corazón (heart) leading the way. The presence of the heart is ac:ve in past and present Mayan worldviews, language, tex:le knowledge and prac:ce, and is connected to Zapa:sta ideology to sjalel (weave) Lekil Kuxlejal, a contribu:on to the pluriverse.

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