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- We know the culture! We are locally owned and operated.
- Eric Chavez Santiago is Zapotec, born and raised in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca.
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Creating Connection and Meaning between travelers and with indigenous artisans. Meet makers where they live and work. Join small groups of like-minded explorers. Go deep into remote villages. Gain insights. Support cultural heritage and sustainable traditions ie. hand weaving and natural dyeing. Create value and memories. Enjoy hands-on experiences. Make a difference.
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What is a Study Tour: Our programs are learning experiences, and as such we talk with makers about how and why they create, what is meaningful to them, the ancient history of patterning and design, use of color, tradition and innovation, values and cultural continuity, and the social context within which they work. First and foremost, we are educators. Norma worked in top US universities for over 35 years and Eric founded the education department at Oaxaca’s textile museum. We create connection.
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OCN Creates Student Scholarship at Oaxaca Learning Center Giving back is a core value. Read about it here!
Why We Left, Expat Anthology: Norma’s Personal Essay
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Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university, textile and artisan development experience. See About Us.
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Designers, retailers, wholesalers, curators, universities and others come to us to develop artisan relationships, customized itineraries, study abroad programs, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
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Select Clients *Abeja Boutique, Houston *Selvedge Magazine-London, UK *Esprit Travel and Tours *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Smockingbird Kids *University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Chistes y Chismosos: Is This Like Shopping in Atzompa?
When I go to Oaxaca what do I want to do first? You guessed it. Hit the streets and fill my eyes with the splendor of all the art and artisanry that Oaxaca has to offer. I can’t get enough of the tactile and visual pleasure I derive from exploring shops, street arcades, and village markets. Get me a taxi to Atzompa to explore the folk art pottery of fanciful figures painted with garish, glorious primary colors and to me, this is heaven.
Turn about is fair play. Or, does my experience equate with Eric’s, Janet’s and Elsa’s desire to immediately get to Target, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, the Mall at Streets at Southpoint, and the recently opened Nordstrom Rack? It is as if they have been deprived of any and all semblance of shopping as we know it in the United States. Jeans, tennis shoes, kitchen gadgets, stainless steel cookware, designer label discount sweaters, perfume, make-up, dresses, wristwatches, underwear, kitchen dishtowels are stuffed into plastic bags and piled high in the back seat of my second car that I have lent them this week. And, you should see the bedroom! I wonder how the 50 lb. luggage limit will accommodate all this.
This is a shopping marathon. On Sunday, they left the house at 10 a.m. and returned at 7:30 p.m. Yesterday, Monday, they left the house at 10 a.m. and returned just before 10:30 p.m. They out-do me, and when I go to Oaxaca I can disappear for hours on end into the depths of handwoven textiles from Juchitan, the Mixe and Mixteca regions of Oaxaca and our local villages. Is it the same? I can hear Federico whisper in my ear: Why not?
The difference between common and exotic is derived from our own experience, cultural awareness and origins. Am I to say how my love of pottery, art, textiles, alebrijes, and mole is more important and valuable than their love for good quality and affordable clothing? Eric tells me that these good that we are so used to here in the U.S. can cost twice or three times more in Oaxaca IF they can find them. So, go figure. And, Who am I to say? I’m just happy they are having fun.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary
Tagged consumerism, shopping as entertainment