Canar

by Blankenship, Judy

• ISBN13: 9780292709287
• ISBN10: 0292709285
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-04-01
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

Once isolated from the modern world in the heights of the Andean mountains, the indigenous communities of Ecuador now send migrants to New York City as readily as they celebrate festivals whose roots reach back to the pre-Columbian past. Fascinated by this blending of old and new and eager to make a record of traditional customs and rituals before they disappear entirely, photographer-journalist Judy Blankenship spent several years in Cantilde;ar, Ecuador, photographing the local people in their daily lives and conducting photography workshops to enable them to preserve their own visions of their culture. In this engaging book, Blankenship combines her sensitively observed photographs with an inviting text to tell the story of the most recent year she and her husband Michael spent living and working among the people of Cantilde;ar. Very much a personal account of a community undergoing change, Cantilde;ar documents such activities as plantings and harvests, religious processions, a traditional wedding, healing ceremonies, a death and funeral, and a home birth with a native midwife. Along the way, Blankenship describes how she and Michael went from being outsiders only warily accepted in the community to becoming neighbors and even godparents to some of the local children. She also explains how outside forces, from Ecuador' failing economy to globalization, are disrupting the traditional lifeways of the Cantilde;ari as economic migration virtually empties highland communities of young people. Blankenship' words and photographs create a moving, intimate portrait of a people trying to balance the demands of the twenty-first century with the traditions that have formed their identity for centuries.

Author Biography

Judy Blankenship is an independent journalist, photographer, and editor based in Portland, Oregon

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Old Friends	p. 7
Killa Raymi: Festival of the Moon	p. 17
A House in Canar	p. 27
The Day of the Dead	p. 35
La Limpieza	p. 43
A Dinner to Honor the Dead, and Us	p. 51
The Meeting	p. 61
Greeting the New Year	p. 69
Life in Canar at Three Months	p. 77
Dia de San Antonio	p. 85
This Camera Pleases Me	p. 91
The New Economy	p. 101
A Death in Canar	p. 109
Carnaval	p. 121
Betrothal, Canari Style	p. 133
Life in Canar at Six Months	p. 141
A Wedding	p. 151
Mama Michi Goes to Canada	p. 161
The Way Things Work	p. 169
A Birth in Canar	p. 175
We Walk the Inca Trail	p. 187
Saying Good-bye	p. 201
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