Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Negotiating the Pottery Exchange Landscape

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Pottery, Livelihoods, and Landscapes

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Latin American Studies ((BRIEFSLAS))

  • 326 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter interprets the pottery distribution methods and trade destinations presented in Chap. 2. It explains the decisions Olleros potters and pottery traders make regarding the marketing of their product in terms of goods sought in exchange, ecological and agricultural patterns, regional cuisine preferences, exchange rates , measurement systems, life cycles , household capabilities, and individual and community social relations. It concludes with observations of the unique spatiality of pottery exchange as a livelihood activity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    “Recado” is an interesting word with many definitions, several of which have culinary connotations. According to the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (2004), s.v. “recado,” the word comes from the verb “recadar” and means the following: (1) Message or response given or sent to someone, (2) Errand or commission, (3) Memory or remembrance of esteem or affection held about someone, (4) Daily provision of household supplies brought from the market, (5) Combination/grouping of objects necessary to do certain things, (6) Document that explains an account, (7) Precaution, security, (8) Group of types, signs, etc., from one document made use of in another, (9) Arg., Bol. & Ur. Riding gear, (10) El Salv., Gaut., Hond. & Nic. Liquid seasoning or spice used as condiments for meat, (11) Hond. & Nic. Chopped meat used to fill empanadas, (12) P. Rico. Aromatic plant used as seasoning, (13) Gift, present (my translation and emphasis).

  2. 2.

    “Entonces, uno cuando sale a buscar de cambio, uno puede cambiar con lo que le dicen: ‘¿Quieres maíz?’ Ojalá. ‘¿Quieres trigo?’ También.  Uno no hay que regodear lo que uno le pronuncian para cambiar” (Micaela Jiménez).

  3. 3.

    “En Julio y Agosto, Julio, Agosto, por ahí son los meses ya graneros que hay” (Emma Mondragón).

  4. 4.

    “Con maicito, olluquito, lo cambiaba. Con cualquier cosita de comidita.” (Rosa Jiménez).

  5. 5.

    “Porque por aquí que no hay pues” (Orfilia Mondragón).

  6. 6.

    “Maíz, alverja, todo lo que es zona de la parte altura se cambia con grano. (¿Y cuando no es altura?) Cuando es bajera, se cambia por yuca, camote, a la parte baja…el recado” (Micaela Jiménez).

  7. 7.

    Sillar (2000: 85 n. 34) writes that while tupu is a word commonly used as a unit of measure, he has never heard of it in reference to a pottery vessel. In Ecuadorian Kichwa, the verb tupuna means “to measure.” In Piura, a poto is a gourd used as a vessel (bowl, cup, etc.), I have never heard it used to describe a pot.

  8. 8.

    A fanega is volumetric measure: “A unit used in Spain and Portugal (and therefore sometimes in South American countries…) in both liquid and dry measure, although the Spanish variant is applied predominantly to dry goods. The unit differs by a small margin, however between the two traditions,” it is about 55.5 L (Darton and Clark 1994: 147).

  9. 9.

    An arroba is also a measurement of weight, it varies slightly depending on the region, but it is equivalent to about 11.5 kg (Diccionario de la Real Academia Española, s.v. “arroba”).

  10. 10.

    “Cuando está en buena cosecha, a la llenadita, pero cuando está en menos cosecha, ya un poquito más abajito” (Micaela Jiménez). Her use of the phrase “buena cosecha” could mean “good harvest,” implying a year with an extra abundance of quality produce or “during harvest,” implying while the seasonal activity is occurring. I am leaning toward the second definition, mainly because the explanations of other potters tend to coincide.

  11. 11.

    “No, acá no se cambian a dos llenadas. Más antes si decían que cambiaban por dos llenadas. Pero hay que irse más lejos, por donde no entran no más olla- ahí recién cambian a dos llenadas. Porque por ejemplo hay sitios donde compran bastante olla y la gente de más lejos ya saben que allí señores compran, allí dicen que les dan a dos llenadas. A mismo Matalacas, me compran bastante, una carga, dos cargas, y así las cambian…hacen quedar un poco para ellos, y lo demás ya viene gente de más lejos de Pedregal, de Huaracas que se quedan para acá…nosotros no vamos por esta hondura así…de Huaracas, de Matalacas, pero para Huaracas pasa lejísisimos a la sierra en esta sierra” (Micaela Jiménez).

  12. 12.

    “Bueno, con la plata también pero aquí a veces no hay—mejor lleva su… mejor resulta el cambio con sus ollitas. Resulta mejor.” (¿Como así le resulta mejor?) Porque ellos dan a la llenada, según la olla. (Altagracia Chuquihuanca).

References

  • Apel K (1996) De la hacienda a la comunidad: la sierra de Piura 1934–1990. IEP/IFEA/CNRS, Lima

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernex N (1990) El distrito de Pacaipampa: unidad y diversidad. In Bernex N, Córdova H, Roux JC (eds) El proyecto de desarrollo rural integral de la sierra central del departamento de Piura (Convenio PUC-ORSTOM) Tercera parte-Aspectos socio-económicos. PUCP, Lima, pp 88–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertonio PL (1984[1612]) Vocabulario de la lengua Aymara. CERES, Cochabamba

    Google Scholar 

  • Brush SB (1977) Mountain, field, and family: the economy and human ecology of an Andean valley. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Burchard RE (1974) Coca y trueque de alimentos. In: Alberti G, Mayer E (eds) Reciprocidad e intercambio en los Andes peruanos. IEP, Lima, pp 209–251

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronon W (1991) Nature’s metropolis. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Darton M, Clark JOE (1994) The dent dictionary of measurement. J. M. Dent, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Delgado F, Ponce D (2002) La Feria—Fiesta de Siete Viernes. Revista Compas 5:7–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (22nd ed) (2004) Accessed at: www.rae.es

  • Fonseca C (1973) Sistemas económicos andinos. Biblioteca Andina, Lima

    Google Scholar 

  • Gade D (1975) Plants, man and the land in the Vilcanota valley of Peru. Dr. W. Junk B.V. Publishers, The Hague

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gade D (1996) Carl Troll on nature and culture in the Andes. Erdkunde 50:301–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Göbel B (1998) ‘Salir de viaje’ Producción pastoril e intercambio económico en el noroeste argentino. In Dedenbach-Salazar Saenz S, Arellano Hoffmann C, Köning C, Prümers H (eds) 50 años de estudios americanistas en la universidad de Bonn—Nuevas contribuciones a la arqueología, etnohistoria, etnolingüística y etnográfica de las Américas, vol 30. BAS, Bonn, pp 867–891

    Google Scholar 

  • Hocquenghem A-M, Monzón S (1995) La cocina Piurana. CNRS/IFEA/IEP, Lima

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Holguín DG (1989 [1608]) Vocabulario de la lengua general de todo el Peru llamada Lengua Quechua o del Inca. UNMSM, Lima

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey C (1985) Barter and economic disintegration. Man 20(1):48–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ilbery B, Morris C, Buller H, Maye D, Kneafsey M (2005) Product, process and place: an examination of food marketing and labeling schemes in Europe and North America. Eur Urban Reg Stud 12(2):116–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kula W (1986) Measures and men. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer E (2002) The articulated peasant: household economies in the Andes. Westview Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohr KL (1992) The organization of production and distribution of traditional pottery in South Highland Peru. In: Bey GJ III, Pool CA (eds) Ceramic production and distribution. Westview Press, Boulder, pp 49–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Murra JV (2002 [1972]) El control vertical de un máximo de pisos ecológicos en la economía de las sociedades andinas. In Murra JV (ed) El Mundo Andino. PUCP Fondo Editorial/IEP, Lima, pp 85–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi K (1975) Traders and trade. In: Sabloff JA, Lamberg-Karlovsky CC (eds) Ancient cvilization and trade. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp 133–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Reardon T, Vosti SA (1995) Links between rural poverty and the environment in developing countries: asset categories and investment poverty. World Dev 23:1495–1506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rostworowski M (1960) Pesos y medidas en el Peru pre-hispanico. Imprenta Minerva, Lima

    Google Scholar 

  • Sillar B (2000) Shaping culture: making pots and constructing households. An ethnoarchaeological study of pottery production, trade and use in the Andes, vol 83. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Skuras D, Dimara E (2004) Regional image and the consumption of regionally denominated products. Urban Stud 41(4):801–815

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tosi JA (1960) Zonas de vida natural en el Peru. Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agricolas, Lima

    Google Scholar 

  • Troll C (1968) The cordilleras of the tropical Americas. Aspects of climatic, phytogeographical and agrarian ecology. In: Troll C (ed) Geo-ecology of the mountainous regions of the tropical Americas. Ferd. Dümmlers Verlag/UNESCO, Bonn

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuan Y-F (1977) Space and place. University of Minnesota Press, Minneopolis

    Google Scholar 

  • Weismantel MJ (1988) Food, gender and poverty in the Ecuadorian Andes. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Wrigley GM (1919). Fairs of the Central Andes. Geographical Review 7(2): 65–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerer KS (1999) Overlapping patchworks of mountain agriculture in Peru and Bolivia: toward a regional-global landscape model. Hum Ecol 27(1):135–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities, Geography Section, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima, Peru

    Martha G. Bell

Authors
  1. Martha G. Bell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martha G. Bell .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bell, M.G. (2017). Negotiating the Pottery Exchange Landscape. In: Pottery, Livelihoods, and Landscapes. SpringerBriefs in Latin American Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52331-6_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation