INSIDE NMAI


........................


ASHANINKA FORMAL WEAR


S


ituated between the Andean highlands and the lowland tropical forests in eastern Peru,


the Ashaninka (Cam- pa) have long had contact


with neighboring Arawak-speakers – the Machiguenga, Nomatsiguenga,


Amuesha


and Piro – as well as with Indians from other linguistic backgrounds, such as the Ship- ibo and Conibo. All of these peoples have some version of the woven cotton robe, or kushma (a Quechua word; the Ashaninka is kithaarentze). Ashaninka women weave these garments with cotton they cultivate, spin and dye with their own hands. Robes are sometimes used as trade items. New kushmas are reserved for formal occasions, such as visits to other communities. Once they have become soiled, they are dyed brown and used for everyday wear.


—William H. Fisher


On view in New York at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in the permanent exhibition, Infinity of Nations.


William H. Fisher is associate professor of anthropology at the College of William and Mary. He has published research on gender relations, ritual and social movements, and the book Rain Forest Exchanges: Industry and Community on an Amazonian Frontier.


This essay is excerpted from Infinity of Nations: Art and History in the Collections of the National Museum of the American Indian, edited by Cecile R. Ganteaume and published by Harper Collins in association with the National Museum of the American Indian.


Ashaninka kithaarentze (tunic), ca. 1925. Upper Ucayali River, Peru. Cotton, dye; 55.1" x 50.4". Collected by Wilhelm Schaeffler. 19/5956


50 AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER 2013


PHOTO BY ERNEST AMOROSO


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