Patrimonialization of indigenous textiles and institutional healing in Guatemala
In 2016 the first judicial case took place in Guatemala related to the sexual enslavement to indigenous women during the country's Civil War. The group of plaintiffs appeared in court with their heads covered by textiles to hide their identity. This gesture was polemical: on one hand, in some indigenous cultures the act of wrapping things has the sense of intimacy and the sacred - something inside should be maintained secret and respected. But, at the same time, the gesture was a symptom of the need to protect the victims. Taking this debate as a starting point, in this paper I will problematize the cultural importance of textiles in indigenous cosmologies, the war on patents led by indigenous weavers against big companies, and the textiles as Heritage in the Museum of Costume in the capital. In parallel, I will review some responses and reactions to indigenous women's political struggle on the management of their own Heritage and cultural production against official patrimonialization, and from contemporary art production that very often use textiles as a theme, mode of expression, and representation.