The Negotiation of Ícaros in Shipibo Textiles for Sale

• In Event: ¿Nuestra Amazonía?: Mediated Claims to Ownership and Belonging in Amazonian Studies

Abstract

Amid the rise of “shamanic tourism” which promises the healing powers of the jungle to be a cure-all for travelers’ congested lives, Amazonian material culture has become a sought-after commodity. Contemporary Shipibo textiles made for tourists in the Peruvian Amazon, are a popular souvenir for those seeking an “authentic” piece of Indigenous Amazonian culture. Part of the allure of these textiles are their abstract patterns, which are called ícaros, or the melodic chants of the world which are spiritually powerful and alive. Because these patterns seem similar to the ícaros on textiles worn by Shipibo people, tourists believe their newly bought textiles embody the same magical strength that they do for the Shipibo. Contending with that idea, this paper examines how Shipibo textile makers, primarily women, deliberately guard the vitality of the ícaros from touristic consumption. From a visual studies perspective, I address the methodological, material, and aesthetic differences between the ícaros in Shipibo tourist textiles with those made for daily community use and what those differences reveal about the protecting of cultural knowledge in a touristic market. I argue that tourist textiles visually imitate the presence of the ícaros worn by the Shipibo community to facilitate the visibility of Shipibo culture on a global scale without “selling out.” This study makes claims relevant to other Indigenous visual cultures of the Americas and also provides an intervention into the lack of Shipibo scholarship within the fields of Latin American Studies and Art History.

Author

• Alexandra C Macheski, University of California, Santa Cruz