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Tierra Wools: Looking for Home in the Homeland [1]
María Ochoa
While discursive categories are clearly central sites of political contestation, they must be grounded in and informed by the material politics of everyday life, especially the daily life struggles for survival of poor people–those people written out of history. (Mohanty 1- 49)
This paper is part of a larger study of mine devoted to the examination of various groups of U.S. women of color, Chicana, Navajo, African American, Chinese American, and Latina, who are working on collaborative artistic and political projects. This particular portion of that larger work is interested in the ways in which certain Northern New Mexican women have come to collectively situate themselves as artists, as activists, and as businesswomen, in order to effect social change which will benefit themselves and the other residents of their village. This paper critically situates different oral histories in order to discuss the intersecting roles of social agency and cultural elaboration in determining self-representation.
The larger research project, from which this paper is extracted, grows from my own political, social, and cultural stakes in current discussions regarding the emergence of minority discourses. I am interested in the various forms in which women of color choose to conceive, develop, and express differentiated and oppositional notions of self-representation. Further, as a community activist, it seems important to me to understand how women of color arrive at those moments wherein their individualized projects became collectivized efforts. As a writer and sometime painter, I have personally felt the power of creating critical fictions and images; therefore, I am curious to find moments of artistic expression that emerge from collectivized efforts of self-representation. Finally, as a Chicana, who occupies a number of other categories even as I stand under the banner of political affinity called “women of color,” I want to better understand how other diverse groups found within the category come to define and express the heterogeneity of their particular cultural identities. Towards this goal, I am concerned with examining the local conditions that were necessary for this particular grouping to emerge; the context of the larger historical, social, and cultural circumstances which shaped the group; and the specific diversity of the group with regard to cultural heritage, class, and generation.
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Our ancestors came to this valley nearly 200 years ago seeking pasture for their sheep. They lived off the land surviving harsh mountain isolation through cooperation and self reliance. These values created Tierra Wools which is one of the programs of Ganados del Valle (Livestock Growers of the Valley). Ganados aims to insure that weaving, wool growing, and shepherding continue as a way of life here. [2]
Tierra Wools is the name of a decade old Northern New Mexico based weaving cooperative of Hispanas [3] based in the Chama Valley in the village of Los Ojos. In 1981 the cooperative existed as an idea in the minds of three people. In 1992 it operated as a quarter million dollar local economic development venture consisting of thirty workers. Of these workers, there are twenty-nine women and one man; most of the women are Hispanas of mestiza ancestry; two are Indias; and two of the women are Anglo. Their ages range from eighteen to sixty. They are single women and married women, mothers and grandmothers, and many come from families that have lived in the area for more than two generations. Some of the weavers learned their art at their grandmothers’ knees and others are new to the art form. They each brought a commitment to making Tierra Wools a success whose accomplishments, in turn, meant a number of positive things for the villagers.
Tierra Wools was begun as a means of economic survival; the weaving cooperative was created to provide an economic form of community. The growing membership of women and their effective creative collaborations have provided the Hispanas with a certain kind of economic agency. That this small group of committed villagers would, with no personal capital, limited or no weaving skills, and no marketing experience, successfully establish and maintain a small business in a world of increased globalization of capital is remarkably significant. However, the achievements of this venture have been long in coming. In spite of its seemingly large annual income, the Hispanas’ weaving cooperative members exist close to the economic edge. The most successful weaver’s annual salary is no more than $17,000. As a young business venture, Tierra Wools is most vulnerable to the current trajectory of an economic recession; and because they continue to operate almost exclusively out of their isolated store-front offices in Los Ojos, a rural village that is almost three hours north of Santa Fé, they are highly dependent on seasonal tourism. This reliance on tourist travel means that their peak periods of positive cash flow are the spring and summer months. They make very little money during the winter when the mountainous roads leading to the village are snow-bound.
The Hispanas of this village are not new to economic struggle, however, and this project was about more than creating a small business. The weaving cooperative was also a cultural reclamation and reinvention project. The woven art made by Tierra Wools weavers reflects the historical confluence of Native, Spanish colonial, and Mexican mestizaje cultures as interpreted by late 20th century artisans who in their turn are affected by the electronic media, computer technologies, and other forms of mass communication. The Hispanas of Tierra Wools, through the assistance of an Anglo weaver, Hispana community organizer, and neighboring Navajo weavers, came to learn the various weaving traditions which were historically centered in this valley. That cultural knowledge provided them with another way of understanding themselves in relation to being Hispana, and this in turn allowed for Tierra Wools members to re-consider and to re-present themselves in the myriad ways in which they operate in the course of their lives.
In order to understand how the successes of Tierra Wools can encompass all of these discrete accomplishments, it is important to briefly revisit some of the history prior to the establishment of the cooperative. Over time, whenever villagers living in Northern New Mexico, especially the Chama Valley, were asked what the issue of the day was, they more than likely responded with the answer “land.” The answer to this question had probably not changed for about three hundred years. This territory is sparsely populated, but for those people, past and present, who have lived here there is a great value placed on the relationship of people to the land and on the number of generations that one can count as having family stewardship to “The Land.” [4] New Mexican cultural anthropologist, Frances Quintana, has pointed out that two consistent characteristics of the many social and cultural conflicts in Northern New Mexico are rooted in the way land was represented in the imaginary and how it was constituted as capital.
The resulting social, economic, and cultural structures that have emerged in Northern New Mexico within the tensions of political economy and cultural traditions have been rendered into a particular form of belonging. This structure of belonging, identified as being unique to Latina/o populations, has been named as ‘cultural citizenship.’ Cultural citizenship as defined by Rina Benmayor are those “affirmative actions toward empowerment are claims for a ‘cultural citizenship’ based on human, social, and cultural values, rather than on legal rights.” The works of Tierra Wools seem to exemplify this particularized notion of Latina/o belonging by the fact that the Hispanas/os have successfully shown that despite generations of poverty and disadvantage they are not passive, do not “accept their fate,” and are actively searching for ways to improve their collective and personal lives through cultural expression.
Three Visionaries, Some Suspicions, and a Beginning
María Varela had been a member of the early Civil Rights Movement organization, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She served as both a national staff member in New York and as an organizer in Mississippi. [5] During her tenure with SNCC, Julian Bond introduced her to Reyes Lopez Tijerina (Jackson 37). Lopez Tijerina was, at the time, the primary leader of the North New Mexico land grant movement, and he invited María to work with him. María arrived in Northern New Mexico in 1969. After a few months with Lopez Tijerina, she left his organization and worked on land-related issues with other people living in the Chama Valley. She fell in love with and married one of the villagers. María and her husband lived modestly in their trailer on the edge of the village Los Ojos. In the years that followed, María worked with other villagers to establish first an agricultural cooperative, then later she helped re-establish a local health clinic.
Ironically, it was her history of activism and tendency for engaging in direct action that made her suspect in some people’s eyes. So when she sat down for a kitchen table meeting, in 1981, with two other Northern New Mexican villagers, she was still thought of as an “outside agitator” by Antonío Manzanares, a sheep rancher. The meeting had been called by Gumercindo Salazar, a school teacher and part-time sheep rancher. Both Antonío and Gumercindo counted generations of their families as villagers in Northern New Mexico. However, their provinciality was not so paramount as to obscure their shared vision of a much improved quality of life for the villagers of the area. They talked about their visions and they also shared their suspicions regarding each others’ political motivations. [6] In deference to their political suspicions and in respect to the need for a social strategy, the three chose to participate in a series of kitchen table sessions which were informal.
The trio came together with the common vision of improving the quality of life for the village that included developing a business enterprise that would utilize local resources, creating jobs for people living in the area, and preserving the region’s unique cultural identity. In addition, Antonío and Gumercindo were frustrated by the lack of sufficient grazing land for their small flocks and the out-migration by local people seeking paid work. [7] All three were interested in asserting more local control over the prevailing economic conditions of the region; but above all, they were all three committed to the people and the land. María, Antonío, and Gumercindo were college graduates who over the years had opportunities to build professional careers. These jobs, however, required that they, like so many before, leave the village. Instead each of the three for their own reasons chose to remain in Rio Arriba County. [8]
María, Antonío, and Gumercindo held regular brainstorming sessions out of which a collective vision and strategy began to emerge. In keeping with many of the cultural and economic traditions of the area, they imagined a cooperative venture where villagers could raise sheep which in turn would provide wool for spinning (Jackson 39; Ryan 10). From 1981 to 1983, Gumercindo, Antonío, and María were able to launch their program by successfully reinstituting communal shepherding practices in the area. [9] The interest of local residents and the propitious collaboration of the organizers meant that the establishment of an institution was now feasible and desirable. It was possible for Ganados del Valle to be born. [10] The market for lamb fell into two categories: wool and meat, and so did the division of labor and efforts of the Ganados leadership. Antonío and Gumercindo coordinated the sheep ranching; María headed the wool production component which eventually became Tierra Wools.
Suspicions Fade, Tierra Wools Emerges
As their initial project, Ganados members chose the craft of spinning to enter into the wool production aspects of their venture because it required little capital outlay. They began their research and development work by meeting and talking with weavers and spinners throughout New Mexico. Rachel Brown, a nationally regarded Anglo weaver, spinner, educator, and successful business owner from Taos, was introduced to María. [11] Rachel said of this first meeting,
I was working with a group called The Mountain and Valley Wool Association, and a member who was active in that group introduced us (María and Rachel). We met for lunch one time and we just got along great immediately. We talked about the project, and I decided to go up there for a visit. [12]
When she arrived in Los Ojos in 1983, Rachel found “the lustrous, long-stapled wool of the region perfect for hand spinning. I [also] saw in the community an intense interest in spinning and weaving…and an interest in learning to use a spinning wheel.” [13] Most spinners in the area had spun wool on a hand spindle called a malacate. They had never used the more expedient spinning wheel. Because of the speed and the opportunity for greater quality control made possible by the use of the spinning wheel, it became a tool that was vital to the success of the nascent art project. Rachel suggested holding a workshop in order to introduce the wheel to the local spinners. A few weeks later she returned to conduct a spinning workshop and more than fifteen participants attended.
After the workshop, she also visited an exhibition of weavings by local residents at the community health center. After viewing the exhibit, she asked to meet the creators of the works and was taken to a former convent in the village. There she found several women elders working on looms crowded next to each other in a tiny room. Both María and Rachel agreed that the generational interest in weaving and quality of the weavings suggested the inclusion of woven goods into their enterprising efforts. [14] The parameters of their artistic venture were established: Tierra Wools would be involved in the spinning and weaving of locally grown wool products. The hand-woven items, produced by the local weavers, were initially done in the traditional weaving style of the Rio Grande. Rugs and blankets with stripes and geometric designs such as the saltillo, a chevron design typical to Mexican and New Mexican weaving, and the vallero, a star design of Spanish origin, were made with natural and hand-dyed colors (Tafoya).
Rachel Brown was hired as a consultant with money which María raised from politically progressive funds such as the Shalan Foundation. For the first year Rachel commuted the 160 mile round-trip to Los Ojos once a week on Tuesdays to conduct spinning and weaving classes. In the winter when snow storms blocked the mountainous pass between Taos and Los Ojos, she traveled an additional 100 miles each way in order to teach classes. The curriculum, which was specifically designed for Tierra Wools by Rachel, was covered in fifty lessons. The class content included beginning and advanced weaving, spinning, dyeing, and marketing. The training required applied arts projects, two-hour lectures and/or demonstrations, and reading assignments. The first training series was, of course, conducted by Rachel. Those participants who graduated earned the title of Maestra. They were expected to teach the curriculum to subsequent classes. Rachel had designed and written the curriculum specifically for the needs of the cooperative. However, her contract with the cooperative included a provision which specifically stated that the curriculum was the property of the Tierra Wools cooperative. This contractual provision ensured the continuation of the training through peer education and it made the cooperative more independent of Rachel.
In addition to the technical training, Rachel also “taught” the women aesthetics as they created their woven projects. Rachel said,
I was designing the products that they would do…[and providing] …guidelines for picking colors because their color sense was kind of wild. Their color sense was very limited. At first, I made the guidelines and I said, “OK, now the rug had to be 2/3 one value, not just half light and half dark.” I kind of figured things out in my head that were a few simple rules, and within that they could choose whatever colors they wanted. [15]
This aspect of the training raises serious questions about the nature of and the formulation of creative expression within the parameters of aesthetics that were imposed upon the weavers. However, all of the weavers that were interviewed felt that Rachel had benefited their work in color. Possibly this sense of having been assisted stems from the fact that Tierra Wools sales have been high; it is exciting and personally complimentary to many of the weavers when their works are purchased. When Rachel established an aesthetics guideline, she was probably grounding her criteria in the marketing and sales of the woven products as much as her own personal sense of weaving aesthetics. Her motives were not sinister, but the ways in which she developed the nascent weavers’ “color sense” seems undermining to their emergent notions of weaving aesthetics.
It seems that this aspect of the training might have contributed in part to the fact that initially it was a frightening idea for the Hispanas to think of themselves as artists. [16] However, as the beginning weavers came to gain more confidence in their abilities, they lost the fear and gained self-confidence in their work, as well as in their personal lives. [17] Today they need no encouragement or prompting to call themselves artists or weavers. In fact, they look to other Northern New Mexico weavers, such as neighboring Navajo women, for ideas and support.
As has been the case over the centuries, there continues to be a blending of cultures which emerges in people’s lives. Most notably for the weavers, the manifestation of the cross-over occurs in their woven works. For example, the pattern of a tapestry woven by María “Nena” Russom was comprised of a pattern which was inspired by a tile floor she saw while watching a film video rental. About this technologically induced inspiration she said,
One day I was watching the movie “Beetlejuice”, and I saw that the tile on the floor looked three-dimensional. So, I stopped the video and copied the pattern onto a sheet of paper. I later wove a rug that had the three dimensional look like the tile had. I like doing stuff like that (Terrazas interview).
Or as in the case of Sophie Martínez, some weavers look to the everyday for inspiration in their weaving patterns and combine thelr ideas with material from art books and musuem catalogues. She said,
Most of the ideas that I have are from things that I see. It could be a shape or something. Lots of times I take ideas from books on weaving and make them unique. I combine those ideas with my own shapes. (Sophie Martínez interview)
Because the work of Tierra Wools eventually attracted international attention in the world of weavers and wool growers, it has not been uncommon for people from as far away as Germany, England, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, and Argentina to make the long trek to the Tierra Wools store. During such visits there are frequently exchanges of weaving ideas, patterns, and technologies between the Hispanas and their visitors. However, one of the most influential opportunities for the weavers happens when they travel out of the area on behalf of Tierra Wools. When they are “on the road” whether it is to the Smithsonian Museum for a cultural fair, to Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan for a display of weavings, or to a wool growers convention in San Antonio, the Hispanas who travel seize the moments for creative inspiration.
For those times when the weavers relied mostly on each other for inspiration they sometimes utilized a creative brainstorming technique Rachel Brown practiced in her work and taught them. They worked in a circle with colored paper and paste. Each participant started a design and at a certain designated moment they passed their designs to the weaver next to them. The task then was to add to and complete the design already begun. In this way each weaver learned to work with different colors and designs and “problem-solved” her way into and out of a pre-determined artistic setting. Another interesting aspect of this sharing is that the group activity transformed the individual ownership of a creative design into an act that solicits, incorporates, and builds on the creative synergy of the group. [18]
Collaborative Artistic Works
While it can be said that Tierra Wools is a weaving cooperative of Hispanas, it is important to note that Tierra Wools was not born of a sisterhood whose foundation was a ‘politics of unity’ solely based on gender (Alarcón). Rather, Tierra Wools came out of ‘pursuit of solidarity’ through different political formations. The weaving cooperative members were not unlike many of their women of color urban and suburban counterparts in that they saw themselves as operating within a broad political and cultural terrain that included making many kinds of alliances. As a result, they did not hold rigid or fixed notions about the ethnic or cultural backgrounds, or the sex, or the class position that allowed or permitted one to become a Member-owner of the cooperative. [19] This attitude likely contributed to the fact that even though the weaving cooperative is predominantly comprised of Hispanas, there are weavers who are of other cultural backgrounds, and there is one man who weaves.
When asked if they considered themselves “feminists,” the interviewed members of Tierra Wools neither embraced nor rejected the category; they were all indifferent to the notion. While their lives as women had clearly been marked by the experiences of building the weaving cooperative, and while they were very much a part of a cooperative comprised of women weavers, their work within a women-run business was not critically examined. However, the notion of a tentative “sisterhood” existed for some of the women as they talked about their relationship to another group, the Rainbow Weavers, which was comprised of Navajo women. Nena Russom said of their relationship,
The Rainbow Weavers are Indian weavers. We kind of call them our sisters, kind of, because we help them out and they help us out.
Some of the women responded to the question by talking about how their lives had been altered by becoming weavers. Joanna Terrazas was one woman for whom becoming a weaver meant a change of life goals. As of 1992, Joanna was a member of the Ganados del Valle Board of Directors as well as a Member-owner of Tierra Wools. Joanna’s affiliation began in 1983 when her husband, Randy, was talking to Antonío Manzanares. Antonío mentioned the new weaving enterprise and encouraged Randy to send Joanna over to the classes. Her paid work at that time was painting details on brass model trains and crocheting wearing apparel. Joanna approached the spinning group and was invited into the class; she along with seven others were the first students of Rachel’s training program. Joanna said of her early experiences in the cooperative,
I started just crocheting, and then I went on to spinning and to the weaving. Then I started to get into the management part of the business. Last year my health got real bad, and I felt it was because I was Marketing Manager, Vice President of Ganados, and I was weaving. I felt like an octopus. So I eliminated a lot of things. Right now I’m not doing any administrative jobs. I’m just weaving.
In actuality, Joanna was involved in more than “just weaving,” she also had other responsibilities in this “sheep to shawl” enterprise. Both she and her husband, Randy, raised sheep and in 1991 their flock of 70 included the churro and karakul breeds. Her children also worked with the flock. Her daughter was raising two sheep, an ewe and a ram, and her son accompanied his father on his rounds of tending the sheep. The familial effort in sheep ranching was fairly common among the members of Ganados. Adults and children alike, regardless of sex, had opportunities to learn some aspects of sheep ranching. In addition to the pastoral work, children were encouraged to learn traditional arts through a cultural program which taught them the crafts of weaving, tin work, and pottery. [20] Classes were held in a space just off of the main showroom in the Tierra Wools outlet. [21]
Peer training among the weavers was always an intentional aspect of the Tierra Wools program. Joanna, now a Maestra, trained several other women in the spinning and weaving processes. Shortly after she became a Maestra in 1983 she trained Nena Russon. Before Nena became a weaver, she worked as a bookkeeper for Tierra Wools. After a few weeks of working in the outlet and watching the weavers at their looms, her interest grew. She asked to join a newly begun series of classes where she learned weaving from Joanna and Rachel. Nena described spending long periods of time, six to eight hours a day, five days a week, in front of the loom as she learned the art, she also said that she asked everyone, especially Joanna and Rachel, a lot of questions. Since that time she has become one of the most esteemed weavers and her work is in high demand. [22]
Nena was also expanding her interests and abilities beyond weaving for Tierra Wools. She was taking general education courses at the local community college (“local” in this sense means the school is 75 miles from Los Ojos). Nena planned to receive an A.A. in art and then transfer to the University of New Mexico at Los Alamos where she will work on a bachelor’s degree. Nena ended her first semester in school in the spring of 1992 with a 4.0 average. Even though Nena has her sights focused on other work for herself, she echoed similar feelings as did Joanna and other Tierra Wools Member-owners regarding the personal and creative fulfillment which weaving gave them. Nena said,
I like weaving because the fact that you can see the finished product means more. If you type a letter and you mail it, you don’t appeciate the work that went into it as much as you can when you see a rug hanging on the wall. It’s especially exciting when somebody comes in, loves it, and buys it. I really like the weaving more than I like the bookkeeping. Now that I am the Treasurer of the [Tierra Wools] Board, I oversee the bookkeeping, but I don’t do the work. I have a bookkeeper. But, now she’s gotten into weaving, so I’m scared. I don’t want to loose her as a bookkeeper!
Joanna also made distinctions between the creative satisfaction she received from weaving and the more mundane but important aspects of the Tierra Wools work when she said,
Weaving is a lot more rewarding because you can see it being worked on, and little by little you create this wonderful, beautiful thing. In administrative work, you really can’t see until the end of the year if you did well.
Critical Social Conflicts
There were two significant social issues which arose among the Hispanas of the cooperative, one early in its history and the other within the past two years. The first large cultural disjuncture which happened among the Hispanas of Tierra Wools took place along generational lines and was not resolved; there remains a tension about the relationship of elder women, who were weavers long before there was a Tierra Wools, to the weaving cooperative.
It seems that there was a generational split between the elder weavers, with whom Rachel Brown first met in the convent, and the mostly younger weavers, who eventually became the driving force of Tierra Wools. None of the weavers interviewed, all of whom were of the younger generation, spoke about this part of their histories. When later asked about this historical lacuna they demurred on the matter. It was Rachel who talked about the elders. She said,
[At the beginning] there were several older women and they were doing rugs. Kika Chávez was doing some very wonderful tapestry. She knew her stuff. They all just wove along on their own. In some ways I feel kind of bad because the starting of Tierra Wools discouraged some of those older women. They were kind of left in the dust because the group got so energetic. The older women who had loved to come over got discouraged because you had to work at it a certain number of hours a day in order to be affiliated with the project.
However, not all of the older women were discouraged. Kika was among the two elders who remained and provided a cultural and historical continuity for the group. In fact, Kika completed the weaving curriculum as one of the original graduates and earned the title of Maestra. This was an exciting moment because while Kika Chávez understands spoken English she is unable to read in the language. Rachel’s class materials and exams were written entirely in English. Therefore, all materials were read to Chávez and she performed all exams orally. In spite of her successes over the eight years in which she was closely connected to Tierra Wools, she cut back on her hours as her husband objected to her working outside of the home. Over time she did manage to entice her daughter-in-law, Sophie Chávez, to enroll in the weaving classes. Sophie was also successful in her work and today is the Production Manager for Tierra Wools.
Elder Hispanas were not the only group for whom there arose difficult issues. The second major critical moment occurred for the generation of those with young families for whom the matter of child care was and is vital. Until the spring of 1992, weavers brought their children with them to the weaving room at the Tierra Wools outlet. However, the Member-owners determined that with the increase of work volume, the decrease of space, and the numbers of children, the weaving room was off-limits to children. The result was a reversal of the long-standing policy allowing pre-school children to accompany their mothers to work. In the absence of low-cost, quality child care options and/or the means to pay for child care, the mothers of young children were unable to weave regularly if at all. For some Hispanas the alternative was to purchase a loom and to weave at home. However, looms can cost between $2,000 and $4,000 and most families were unable to make such a costly investment. The Member-owners were beginning to look at other options such as providing on-site child care for weavers. In an effort to create a more suitable environment for children, Tierra Wools Member-owners applied for and received a grant from the Save the Children Fund; this money made it possible for them to purchase playground equipment. However, the ban on children at the work site was still in effect as of the summer of 1992. Sophie Chávez noted of this situation,
There were just too many small kids. It was getting dangerous. We have to build some kind of child care. But, I have noticed that production is down a little bit now that children can’t come. Some of the mothers can’t afford child care, so they stay at home most of the day with their kids, and they come in the evening, or they come early in the morning.
This type of decision-making, especially within the consensual process, was not simple or easy for the Tierra Wools weavers. Many of the Member-owners cited the decision-making process as the most difficult part of working in the cooperative. A variety of management configurations were in effect over the years. Joanna, formerly the Marketing Manager, remembered one particularly difficult period when,
Instead of having three different managers, we decided to try out only having one. It didn’t work. I think that the reason it didn’t is because we don’t have the right training. All the people in management don’t have any training. Everything they learn is “on the job,” and it is really difficult to learn like that. I think that’s the one mistake. We don’t train people to have some idea of what and how they are going to do in the job.
Production Manager Sophie Chávez held a job which required her to assign weaving tasks and production goals to all weavers including the Member-owners. She was acutely aware of the stress which the responsibilities of the job brought. She also talked about the difficulty of working with people who are related to each other in an intimate way,
We have mothers, daughters, and people who have been friends for a long time. It is kind of hard to say “no.” Also making the right decisions is hard. Sometimes you make decisions and it just doesn’t work out and it is stressful.
Nena expressed both her frustration and love for working with women who are close friends,
It is hard working with women. We have a lot of conflicts going on a lot of time, and we’re ready to kill each other half the time. But, at the same time, we are real supportive of each other. When it comes down to it, we would do anything for each other. Then the next day,we are talking about them. That’s how it is. . .living here as long as we have, knowing each other, growing up with each other…knowing everything! I tell people that we live in Paradise and we pay a price. We can’t have really good jobs, but we have a little modest house, and it is all kick-back. The children are growing up in an atmosphere that is really nice.
There was a price for the sense of community and well-being, but it seemed that for many villagers the rewards outweighed many of the social difficulties. This level of group cooperation and self-reliance, which occurred among the weavers of Tierra Wools, seemed to be a direct reflection and extension of the villagers need to constantly be flexible and creative in the face of tough economic, political, and environmental conditions. While it would be a mistake to believe that these histories will eventually unfold with a happy ending where the villagers shepherd their ways into the sunset, there are certain indicators which point in the direction of success.
Cultural Politics and the Local Economy
The most obvious evidence of a positive economic change for the villagers was seen on the main street of Los Ojos. Cindy Friday, Marketing Manager for Tierra Wools, summarized the ways in which the physical manifestation of economic success takes place on this principal, indeed only, arterial,
When we first started here, there was not a single thing on Main Street that was open for business except for Tierra Wools. Nothing was here. Everything had gone out of business. Then after us came Pastores Feed & General Store; then the gentleman across the way started his printing press and art gallery. Now we even have Mary Ann’s cafecito. And several people have shown an interest in buying the building across the street and opening a business.
However, the path to this economic recovery was not smooth and required the Member-owners of Tierra Wools to acquire a working knowledge of macro-economics and small business skills and techniques. In the ten years that Tierra Wools has existed the annual operating budget grew from zero to $225,000. This is an amazing rate of growth given that 90-95% of all sales occur at the isolated rural outlet. Because their marketing budget is quite tiny, the predominance of advertising about the weaving cooperative is word-of-mouth generally by the proud out-of-area owners of Tierra Wool weavings. Rugs and blankets range in price from $175 to more than $4,000. Smaller items such as pillows, coasters, and throws cost between $20 and $250. One of the more thorny issues which the organization grappled with in the early months of existence was the seemingly high price of their goods and the wages paid to the weavers. When the outlet first opened there were disgruntled rumors of exploitation from those in training to become weavers and those who were considering becoming trained. In order to deal with the situation, María and Rachel held several meetings in which the wage and pricing system was explained.
Each product in the cooperative has a “labor allowance.” Spinners and weavers are paid every two weeks using that allowance as the basis for their pay. For example, it might be determined that a single pillow has a “labor allowance” equivalent to four hours wages; a weaver who was contracted to create ten pillows would be paid at the prevailing wage (approximately $10 an hour) times four hours per pillow times ten. In other words, a weaver would earn $400 for weaving the ten pillows. In addition to the weavers’ wages, costs such as yarn, the shop-keeper’s wages, rent, and utilities are factored into the final price. It was the disparity between the wages and the sales prices which caused alarm and suspicion among weavers and villagers alike in the early days of Tierra Wools. However, a series of discussions regarding the factors which comprised the pricing standards and policies caused the initial fears of exploitation to dissipate.
Over the past decade, the Member-owners and weavers have built on these early discussions. As a result, they have developed and woven their particular brand of political and cultural consciousness into the fabric of the venture. The women of Tierra Wools have created a space in their commercial dealings where the value of their weavings has a significance other than and beyond the exchange value of the product. Both María and Rachel had training in the administration of a business concern and they were able to share these skills and information with the Tierra Wools Member-owners. Member-owners learned basic business practices such as the development of income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow projections. More and more these lessons made their way into the basic weaving curriculum required of all prospective Member-owners.
In addition, the weaving cooperative acquired a computer system. The introduction of this technology was because of the involvement of Robin Collier of San Francisco. [23] He has a background in computer systems and crafts cooperative management, and initially came to Rachel Brown to assist her in computerizing her business. After successfully working with Rachel, he began to spend time at Tierra Wools. Robin trained the Member-owners so that they were able to have all of their financial, stock inventory, and word processing information on-line. One indicator of the success of all this training is that the 1992 Tierra Wools annual meeting was held without the presence of María, Rachel, or Robin. This was the first annual meeting ever comprised solely of Member-owners. The Hispanas determined that they were able to conduct the planning for the up-coming fiscal year within their own group; so they did not invite anyone outside of the immediate body of governance to attend.
One of the items on the 1992 agenda was the matter of wholesale and/or consignment sales. The Member-owners might take weavings and spun wool to three or four fairs such as the Taos Wool Fair, but for now the majority of the sales work happens in the village outlet. There was and continues to be a great deal of interest on the part of outside vendors wanting to sell Tierra Wools goods; but the move to expand the business in this direction is slow in coming. In fact, in 1992 the cooperative was turning down all requests from outside wholesale vendors. There were two reasons for this. First, the weaving cooperative was at a level of production in which they were adequately stocking their outlet in Los Ojos, but they did not have a surplus of woven goods to ship out of the store. It was possible that when the business at the outlet slowed down in the autumn and winter months that the Member-owners would consider these requests. However, the second reason for the Member-owners’ cautious approach was a bit more complicated as Cindy Friday explained,
We are really, really, really particular. We have a four-page application that we send to prospective wholesalers. We include a letter of explanation of the conditions of sale. They have to agree to tell the story of Tierra Wools, and not just sell the piece.
The Tierra Wools Terms and Letter of Agreement also included specific directions to wholesale vendors on the telling of the Tierra Wools history. The latter point was particularly important to the Member-owners. As Sophie Chávez pointed out, “A lot of people want to buy our stuff wholesale and they don’t know anything about us.” Prospective vendors were also expected to answer questions regarding their promotional capabilities, annual retail sales, and the types of products sold. Finally, wholesalers were asked to complete an essay describing “why you feel that your outlet would be a good place for the display and sale of Tierra Wools’ weavings.” This request was included so as to try and avoid situations such as the one Sophie remembered.
Once we did some wholesaling with these people in Sutters Dam. So, Joanna and I dropped by one day to see how things were going. One of Joanna’s tapestry blankets was on the floor, dirty, and it didn’t look good. Plus it was very expensive. It wasn’t ours anymore, but they weren’t being respectful. Joanna talked to them and they said they’d try to display it a little better.
Because of the positive results produced by the economic development strategies, the villagers of Los Ojos and the surrounding area are beginning to believe that they may be able to collectively improve their family economies with their own resources and talents. The migration out-of-area by many young people will quite possibly diminish as the opportunities for meaningful employment increase over time. María’s, Antonío’s, and Gumercindo’s early vision has grown with each successive achievement. The three villagers continue their belief and involvement in the projects with an eye to the future; they are rather realistic in their assessments of the struggle that successes born of collective action require. María said of the human struggle involved in collaborative efforts such as Tierra Wools,
The growth of the sense of ownership in a cooperative business often develops unevenly among members. The larger the member group, the longer it takes the entire group to “own” the business. Human development is a long-term, labor intensive process and changes in markets, competition for the resource base, or new production technologies can derail fragile new businesses whose operators do not possess advanced skills.
There is no doubt that the work of Ganados del Valle has had a profound impact on the lives of the villagers of Rio Arriba County. These consequences are seen most dramatically in the lives of the Hispanas who are the Member-owners of Tierra Wools. In the work of managing the weaving cooperative, the Hispanas are personally empowering themselves and rethinking the possibilities of their lives; they are learning about the interconnectedness among political and social issues; they are re-acquainting themselves with their cultural histories and heritages; and they are learning the very specific creative and technical skills of being weavers and spinners.
All of these achievements have come within the context of an on-going social struggle over the use of land and the right of a community to take responsibility for planning and realizing their futures. The next stories of Tierra Wools are unwritten but if the recent past is any indication, the Hispanas of the weaving cooperative will emerge more tenacious than ever from the almost certain intense social and political struggles over land and the self-determination it brings.
Notes
1. “We’re looking for a home in our homeland,” was said in frustration by Antonío Manzanares when asked about the situation of villagers in Northern New Mexico. Mazanares’ frustration stems from the fact that for generations the villagers, throughout the Chama Valley, have lived in almost perpetual exile from their native lands even as they have continued to reside in the same geographic area. Thus, they continue to seek “home in the homeland.”Back to main text
2. Tierra Wools marketing brochure. Back to main text
3. Hispanas is the name used in New Mexico by mestizas, women of Indian and Spanish descent. They do not use the term Chicana which is more commonly applied by mestizas living in other parts of the Southwest and West; nor do they use the term Hispanic which is U.S. government developed and issued. José Limón, University of Texas-Austin Professor of English, examines in his essay, “The Folk Performance of ‘Chicano’ and the Cultural Limits of Political Ideology,” the process of group naming; and while he situates his critique within the borderlands of Texas-Mexico, he does comment on the use of the category Hispanas/os by New Mexicans. He says “Younger people in New Mexico preferred [being called] chicano although the majority chose “Spanish-American,” “Hispano,” or “Mexican.” New Mexico has a peculiar denial of things Mexican and its apparently still continuing romance with the Spanish past.” The essay can be found in the book, And Other Neighborly Names: Social Process and Cultural Image in Texas Folklore, Richard Bauman and Roger D. Abrahams, eds. Austin: University of Texas Press: 1981, pp. 197-225. For further discussion on the specific New Mexican use of Hispana see the work of UCSC Community Studies Professor Patricia Zavella, “Feminist Insider Dilemmas: Constructing Identity with ‘Chicana’ Informants,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies13.3 (1992). In this insightful essay she deconstructs her own political relationship to the category Chicana while she concurrently discusses the role of naming within Chicano cultural nationalism. She explores the effect of categories such as Chicana, Hispana, Hispanic, and Spanish on her work as a Chicana sociologist conducting ethnographic studies among mestizas in New Mexico. She also remarks on the reception her work received when the way in which she spoke of mestiza/o identity did not comply with the preconceived notions of naming and identity which were held by Chicana/o scholars. Back to main text
4. I believe that “The Land” serves as both subject and object in the social and political struggles of the area. The Land exists as the historically and socially constructed object of material desire between binary forces, such as between “natives” and “imperialists.” Examples of such binary conflicts can be seen in various moments of Northern New Mexican history: indigenous people battling Spanish colonials; Mexicans against “Americans”; Las Gorras Blancas contra the Santa Fe Ring; shepherds versus cattle ranchers; La Alianza Federal de Pueblos Libres fighting the State of New Mexico; Hispana weavers in dispute with Anglo environmentalists. The Land also serves as the imaginary subject of spiritual desire within Anglo cultural production such as in the literature of D. H. Lawrence, in the artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe, and in the photography of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. However, for people such as the Hispanas/os, who maintain another kind of relationship to The Land, and who call The Land “Mother”, and for people, such as the Indias/os, who believe that The Land exists in a state of animus, the earth is not bifurcated into object/subject relations. For indigenous people or people, like Hispanas/os, who are immigrants but have a long tenure to The Land, their cultural representations of The Land are rendered by their relationship to or by their stewardship of the earth. Back to main text
5. María was one of two Chicanas who worked in the predominantly Black-white organization. The other Chicana activist was Elizabeth “Betita” Martínez who also moved to New Mexico and became involved in many of the popular issues of the time. Betita has since become a highly respected historian and social critic. Her regularly published commentary can be found in the magazine Zeta. Back to main text
6. Salazar was the instigator of this working trio. It was he who introduced Varela and Manzanares to each other. ” ‘I’d seen her around,’ Antonio recalled. ‘A lot of people thought she was, you know, a subversive. Well, she is – in a good way.’ María, for her part, wondered about Antonío’s willingness to commit to a collective project. ‘It wasn’t an easy relationship,’ she says.” Michael Ryan, “The Village That Came Back to Life,” Parade Magazine: May 3, 1992, p.39. Back to main text
7. In the current permutation of the struggle for grazing land, sheep ranchers usually begin negotiating with large landowners in February and March. In some cases, they must deal with up to 15 different contingencies in the effort to find adequate land for foraging. Some of these sites include use of U.S. Forest Service land, land situated on the site of a proposed ski resort, and land owned by the Jicarilla Apache. Sometimes the negotiations for grazing land can extend into the late spring, a critical time when lambs are being born. This can make it almost impossible to move flocks the considerable distances from the winter to the summer grazing sites. Back to main text
8. During the Carter administration María was invited to head VISTA. She declined saying, “I didn’t believe government could do anything for communities anyway.” Manzanares, who has a B.A. in psychology abandoned his plans for a career in law in order to work the land that his family had owned for centuries. Back to main text
9. This occurred through the development of a partido (shares) system. People are initially loaned 10 sheep apiece. They are supposed to return a lamb every year to the loan stock. At the end of five or six years they will be expected to contribute 10 sheep to the loan stock. In addition to this commitment, each sheep rancher must pay the price of one lamb each year to the Ganados del Valle Scholarship Fund. The fund assists local high school graduates who wish to continue their education in agriculture or related fields. Back to main text
10. Out of the non-profit economic development corporation, Ganados del Valle, first came Tierra Wools, the spinning and weaving cooperative, and later on the self-described Rio Arriba Wool Washing; followed by Pastores Lamb, the meat marketing and distribution enterprise, and eventually, the Ganados members opened a store, Pastores Feed and General Store, down the street from the Tierra Wools and Rio Arriba Wool Washing outlets in Los Ojos. Back to main text
11. Rachel Brown is best known for her development of a portable spinning wheel and her book The Weaving, Spinning, and Dying Book which was first published in 1978. In its first edition there were five printings, it is now in it’s fifth printing of the second edition. She is the current owner/manager of Rio Grande Weavers Supply in Taos. Back to main text
12. Interview with Rachel Brown on June 13,1992. Back to main text
13. National Wool Grower Magazine, December 1989. Back to main text
14. Interview with María Varela on November 1, 1990 and Rachel Brown. Back to main text
15. Rachel Brown interview. Back to main text
16. This initial fear is remembered in every interview I had with current Member-owners of Tierra Wools. However in speaking about her work today as an artist, each Member-owner expressed herself with absolute assurance about her creative ability as a weaver. Back to main text
17. One woman, Sophie Chávez, is often cited as an example of someone who was so shy that when she came into the village stores she would order her goods without so much as raising her head to look someone in the face. However, she is now the head of production; in this role she leads groups of people on tours of the Tierra Wools and Rio Arriba Wool Washing facilities. Interviews with Cindy Friday, Joanna Terrazas on June 12, 1992, and Sophie Chávez, herself, on June 11, 1992. Back to main text
18. Many thanks to UCSC Professor of Education and Oakes College Provost María Eugenia Matute Bianchi for her insight on this point. Back to main text
19. In order to become a Member-owner of Tierra Wools one must have completed the weaving curriculum and performed unpaid work of twenty hours a month for three years. Member-owners are persons with decision making powers and responsibilities. As of the summer of 1992, there were six Member-owners: Joanna Terrazas, Nena Russom, Molly Manzanares, Sophie Chávez, Norma Martínez, and Irma Martínez; three were interviewed for this study: Joanna, Nena and Sophie. They meet once a month for policy related decisions. Management meetings are held weekly and have to do with directing the day to day affairs of Tierra Wools. These meetings include Nena Russom, Treasurer; Sophie Chávez, Production Manager; and Cindy Friday, Marketing Manager. Back to main text
20. Although tin work is both a Spanish and a Mexican art tradition, it is speculated that tin work in Northem New Mexico had its roots in the U.S. Civil War. The story is that when soldiers came through the territory, they cast aside their tin cans which the Pueblo and Hispanos made into art objects. Quintana 219. Back to main text
21. When their projects were completed, the children also had the opportunity to sell their finished works through the Pastores General Store; the money made from these sales was theirs to keep. Thus, the children of the village were also able to participate in the cultural and economic projects of Ganados even as they learned about the histories of their people and the land. Back to main text
22. Nena’s weavings were in a joint exhibit with Joanna Terrazas’ and Sophie Martínez’ work at the prestigious Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos. Back to main text
23. One note of irony is that Robin’s grandfather, John Collier, was Indian Commissioner and worked for the much hated U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The BIA was and is responsible for the administration of the repressive policies, which have been promulgated by the government against indigenous people of the U.S. Back to main text
Works Cited
Alarcón, Norma. “This Bridge Called My Back and Anglo-American Feminism.” Criticism in the Borderland: Studies in Chicano Literature, Culture, and Ideology. Ed. H*ctor Calderón and José David Saldívar. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991. 28-41.
Benmayor, Rina. “Testimony, Action, Research, and Empowerment: Puerto Rican Women and Popular Education.” Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History. Ed. Sherna Berger Gluck and Daphen Patai. London: Routledge, 1991. 159-174.
Jackson, Donald Dale. “Around Los Ojos, sheep and land are fighting words.” Smithsonian (April 1991): 37.
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Cartographies of Struggle.” Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism. Ed. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1991. 1-49.
National Wool Grower Magazine (December 1989)
Ochoa, María. Interview with Cindy Friday.
Ochoa, María. Interview with Joanna Terrazas on June 12, 1992.
Ochoa, María. Interview with Mar�a Varela on November 1, 1990 and Rachel Brown.
Ochoa, María. Interview with Nena Russom on June 12, 1992.
Ochoa, María. Interview with Rachel Brown on June 13, 1992.
Ochoa, María. Interview with Sophie Martínez on June 12, 1992.
Quintana, Frances. Pobladores Two: Hispanic Americans of the Ute Frontier. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991.
Tafoya, Guadalupe. Shared Traditions: New Mexican and Peruvian Weavings. Taos: Millicent Rogers Musuem, 1992.