Continuity and Change in a Domestic Industry: Santa María Atzompa, a Pottery Making Town in Oaxaca, Mexico
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: The potters of Santa María Atzompa, a town in the Valley of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, have been making pottery for at least 500 years, and the town has been widely known for its production of green lead-glazed cookware and ornamental pottery. This study, conducted in the 1990s, looks at how Atzompa pottery production changed since studies made in the 1950s and 1960s. Beginning in the mid-1990s, to a large extent as a result of public concern, publicity, and legislation about the lead glaze, the potters changed the style, distribution, and social context of their ceramic production. Also examined was the dynamics of household production and the choices that the potters made. A third element of the study was compositional analysis of the various ceramic materials and pastes used by the potters.
Source: Fieldiana Anthropology
DOI: 10.3158/41.1
Author: Mary Stevenson Thieme
Institution: Field Museum of Natural History
Language: English
Topic: Crafts, Textile, and Design
Subfield: Museology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2106874236