Geossímbolo arpillera: tecituras de resistência e significados mapeados

Abstract

This research is focused on the discursive force of textile crafts as a language of female political resistance. A clear example in Latin America, particularly in Chile, took place during the dictatorial period (1973-1990), when crafts were used as a social document to show the world the circumstances of the regime. It was a canvas of rustic cloth, on which scraps of clothing from missing political figures were used and scenes of dramatic plots, such as torture and cries for justice, were sewn to compose the figurative art called 'arpillera' (Chilean burlap geosymbol and geosymbol of a movement). We use the term 8movement9 because the practice of this protest textile is kept alive through organizations such as Memorarte Arpilleras Urbanas from Santiago de Chile, which focuses on feminist and environmentalist themes; and the National Women's Collective MAB, active in the Paraopeba River Basin region in Minas Gerais, Brazil, which documents realities linked to the loss of territories caused by the construction and breaking of hydrological and mining dams. This exemplifies the thematic adaptability of this geographically abundant craft. We defend the thesis that the arpillerista women composed a new form of symbolic mapping based on plural spatial, emotional and political contexts that, as a form of secondary language, in its cohesion, communicates community interests. In order to present an updated perspective on this activity, we intend to analyze how the arpillerista practice of the women of the two previously mentioned collectives, based on their experiences marked by spatial tensions, composes a language of resistance constituted by objective and symbolic contexts. This qualitative research, guided by the phenomenological method, followed the logic of exploratory research, with documentary, bibliographical analysis and field research. In fact, we created two mini-documentaries from the field to promote, through women's discourses, another perspective on this activity. In addition, due to the characteristics of the audiovisual resource, it enabled the penetration of female narratives in certain spaces where a written academic document would have greater difficulty to be worked on. The observation of their artisanal productions was carried out from semiotic concepts that support the notion of the arpillera as a (geo)symbol. We emphasize that the arpillerista practice produces a cry of denunciation against the plundering promoted by neoliberalism and neo-extractivism. The practice establishes a common language through the use of images, which generates a semiotic expression of collective composition that, together with symbols, overcomes linguistic barriers