Spinning Lives

This is a study of the artistic production of textiles and songs in RoÁa Grande, a village in the Jequitinhonha River Valley of Minas Gerais state in Brazil. The author interprets metaphors of textiles, songs and oral narratives to suggest how cultural and semantic fields are created, negotiated and transformed in the lives of individuals and in the actuality of their social experiences. Two main methods of investigation are used—life history and photography. The life history method helps readers to understand how change is expressed in the lives of individuals who create social events and how this change causes a transformation of meaning for the social and cultural symbols of everyday life. The book also contains photographs which record the processes and products of weaving. From these photographs and responses found in the book, readers will be able to see the villagers' interpretations of changes in artistic processes and social life. The book will be of prime interest to scholars attentive to life history, symbolism, social change, gender and visual anthropology. This unique study will also appeal to anyone interested in folk art, textile production, aesthetics, ethnomusicology, and rural communities in Latin America. Contents: Illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; RoÁa Grande; Following Their Lead; Visual Narrative; Threading Lives in Time; A Thread; Woven Webs; Talking Tongues; Singing the World; Designing Culture; Notes; Bibliography; Index.