Weapons of Resistance: The Material Symbolics of Postclassic Mexican Spinning and Weaving

Abstract

Material culture studies demonstrate how objects may act to communicate information regarding social identity. In this study we consider ethnohistorical, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence for Postclassic spinning and weaving as symbols relating to female ideology in ancient Mexico. We then relate a contextual interpretation of texts and images to contemporary symbolism, particularly associated with members of the female earth/fertility deity complex depicted and described in precolumbian and early colonial pictorial manuscripts. For our case study we analyze decorative imagery found on baked-clay spindle whorls from Postclassic Cholula, Mexico. This collection is representative of an iconographic system relating to female ideology. Whorls, as well as other spinning and weaving tools, paralleled male-oriented weapons to create a symbolic equivalence or, as we argue, a usurpation of the male symbols within a female worldview as a form of resistance to male domination. We conclude that the symbolic system used on spindle whorls and in other aspects of female practice created a communication network understood by Postclassic women.

4 Cholula: The Mall of [Meso]america

“…Strong evidence of textile production does exist for Postclassic Cholula in the form of clay spindle whorls used to transform raw fiber into spun thread (G. McCafferty and S. McCafferty 2017, 2019; S. McCafferty and G. McCafferty 2000). Extensive whorl assemblages have been found in several excavated contexts, as well as surface collections (Figure 4.5).…”

Confronting the Present: Archaeology in 2019

“…Where male dominance is established, researchers have found evidence for female resistance and creative expression. McCafferty and McCafferty (2019) demonstrate that the iconography on Postclassic Mexican spinning and weaving objects conveyed a gendered equivalence between male weaponry/warfare and female textile production. The authors further argue that the appropriation of male‐associated symbols onto female‐associated objects subverted gender bias and empowered women in an otherwise androcentric society.…”