article
Marginal men: male artists among the Shipibo Indians of Peru
Anthropologica • 21 (2) • Published In 1979 • Pages: 189-221
By: Roe, Peter G..
Abstract
This article describes the anomalous position of male Shipibo artists in the jungle area of Peru. ' In this society the production of art is theoretically the exclusive domain of women. Since they use it to decorate various craft objects such as pottery , woodcarving and textile, most women are merely fulfilling a conventional role and therefore exhibit little of the marked social deviance which ideally characterizes many artists in the modern world. However, women who have revolutionized the native style as well as rare male artists do exhibit such traits. Tourist art is an area of 'protected deviation' where men may trespass an otherwise strict sexual division of labor. It is also a sphere which limits their impact on the internal expression of the art. Unlike the deviant women, the men are forced to limit their innovation to the manipulation of their social role since the art they produce is very orthodox. Because of their dependence on the tourist market, male artists also engage in more stereotyped aesthetic production' (p. 189). In this paper Roe focuses on the artistic works of two of his male informants, José and Martin of the village of San Francisco de Yarinacocha.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2002
- Region
- South America
- Sub Region
- Amazon and Orinoco
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 2001
- Field Date
- no date
- Coverage Date
- ca. 1970s
- Coverage Place
- village of San Francisco de Yarinacocha, Ucayali River area, Peru
- Notes
- Reter G. Roe
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-221)
- LCCN
- 56004160
- LCSH
- Shipibo-Conibo Indians