Attendance via Zoom (register here)

Talk: Join us to hear the latest research from invited guest Santiago Giraldo, who will discuss his paper 'Reintroducing native cottons of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia: lessons learned and future horizons'

Abstract: Since 2017, when a Kogui friend asked us to find for him organic cottonseed of the Gossypium barbadense  (extra long staple cotton native to the Americas) variety, we embarked on project aimed at recovering native cotton varieties from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia and stimulating its farming with indigenous friends and smallholder farmers. Textile production is a longstanding activity among the indigenous groups of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, but its sustainability has been threatened by the use of industrial yarns. The project has sought to ensure the availability of native cotton as a key product in the artisanal value chain

Term Series: Endangered technological and traditional knowledge: documenting, protecting and  reconnecting communities

Description/Themes: The second theme of our series tackles endangered traditional knowledge across the Americas. We reflect on how fewer indigenous languages and crafts are now being spoken and fabricated in the context of dominant manufacturing industries and languages, which are perceived to be socially and economically more valuable than minority languages and traditional ways of living. In this theme, we also discuss and offer recent cases of studies where digital media tools provide a new pathway for transmitting and conserving oral cultures and protecting everyday objects, traditional technological systems and other material cultures that are threatened by extinction.