Practice notebooks · Totonacapan Institute
Inside the Census design
The original framework proposes three purposes: building a living inventory, understanding transmission conditions and guiding support around needs expressed by participants themselves. It describes practices and relationships; a category does not determine who may identify as a knowledge holder.
The five families and their branches
- A · Ritual and spiritual practices. Voladores, mayordomías, traditional medicine, language and oral memory, ceremonial objects, music and dance, under conditions defined by their holders.
- B · Material crafts. Wood, clay and ceramics, plant fibres, textiles and embroidery, traditional jewellery and graphic media.
- C · Food and agro-artisanal knowledge. Vanilla —cultivation, hand pollination and curing—, everyday and ceremonial cooking, cacao, coffee, honey, seeds and milpa cultivation.
- D · Contemporary and hybrid creation. Visual arts, sculpture, fashion and design, digital and hybrid practices with a territorial context.
- E · Crafts that sustain others. Instrument and tool making, restoration, materials production, teaching, cultural interpretation and the organisation of encounters.
Nine blocks for understanding a practice
- Identity and territory: how a person wishes to be identified, workplace and languages.
- Practice: craft name, main family and other activities.
- Transmission: from whom and how they learned, and whom they teach.
- Techniques and materials: resources, tools and necessary conditions.
- Works and uses: products, everyday or ceremonial functions and agreed visual documentation.
- Economic dimension: livelihood conditions the person wishes to contribute.
- Participation and future: interests in cooperation and continuity.
- Risks and needs: difficulties identified through practice.
- Consent: separate decisions about recording, statistics, public identification and images.
Returning useful information
The proposal allows several activities per person and a main practice to organise analysis. Its value depends on what it returns: identifying where transmission is interrupted, which materials are lacking, which learning encounters would help and what should remain restricted. The design requires agreeing with participants how findings will be returned before turning their contributions into a publication.
The questionnaire remains in preparation. To comment on categories or propose a review from your craft, describe the practice and type of contribution in your message; there is no need to send sensitive knowledge or other people’s data.
How to read a Census record
This example uses a pottery practice to show how a record goes from naming a craft to understanding what it needs to continue.
- Practice
- Describe the work, the materials and the conditions in which it takes place.
- Transmission
- Ask how it was learned and what a new learner would need.
- Consent
- Agree separately on recording, statistics, public identification and images.
The questionnaire is in development. This example illustrates its design.
Four decisions about consent
The Census design proposes agreeing on these uses separately. Each decision has its own question.
- Recording the practice
- What information may be recorded, and who may see it?
- Statistical use
- May the agreed information be included in counts or aggregate findings?
- Public identification
- May the person or workshop be named publicly?
- Use of images
- Which photographs or recordings may be used, and under what conditions?
This panel explains the Census design currently in development.
Initiative in preparation
An inventory of crafts should also describe how they are learned, what they require and who can continue practising them.
The Regional Arts and Crafts Census of Totonacapan is a proposal for participatory documentation. It seeks to relate diverse practices to transmission, materials, working contexts and needs expressed by their bearers.
The framework is in preparation. This page introduces its categories and approach; it does not publish field results or announce an open participant register.
A framework with five families
| Family | Practices it can describe |
|---|---|
| A · Living ritual heritage | Ceremonial practices, oral memory and community transmission. |
| B · Traditional material crafts | Wood, clay, fibres, textiles, jewellery and other traditional media. |
| C · Culinary knowledge | Vanilla, cooking and agricultural craft knowledge linked to place. |
| D · Contemporary creation | Visual arts, design and digital or hybrid practices in cultural context. |
| E · Supporting crafts | Conservation, tools, materials, teaching and cultural interpretation. |
A practice does not fit in one box
One person may practise several crafts, combining creation, repair, teaching and material production. The census design allows for this complexity. Categories guide description; they do not determine the value of a practice or a person’s identity.
What is useful to understand
- The name of the craft and its relationship with place.
- How it was learned and whether it is passed on.
- Materials, techniques and working conditions.
- Difficulties and needs identified by the practitioner.
- What may be recorded, published or kept restricted.
Participation and consent
Participation does not automatically authorise publication of names, photographs or knowledge. Statistical use, public identification and image publication require separate agreement. Sensitive practices require specific access arrangements.
Discuss the Census framework →The knowledge network and the Census record
To take part in the Institute’s network, we recommend joining the LatinoEmpresa community. It is our shared participation space within the IMSV ecosystem; this journal publishes reviewed work. If you already have a LatinoEmpresa account, use the same one.
Join the LatinoEmpresa community → · How to register and contribute →
You can also send your proposal to comunidad@latinoempresa.com without registering. The dedicated general contribution and Census forms are being prepared; use email until they open. The guidelines below apply equally to contributions received through either route.
The initial approach to participation will be brief. Those who wish to document a craft may later move to the specific record for the Regional Arts and Crafts Census, which remains in preparation.
A person may describe several practices and identify a main one for analysis. Ancestral character is not a general requirement. Initial contributions will be identified as contributions to the design of the Census or a collaborative pilot record; they are not announced as a representative statistical census or as fieldwork already open.
Perspective Beyond / An entrance to the thought Atlas
Ideas in conversation with this page
Arts and Crafts Census
Open the map and explore its connections
The Atlas connects pages, ideas, experiences and sources. This map starts from the current reading and opens a path through its conceptual neighbours.
Select an idea to read what it contributes and how it connects. Lines also connect the readings with each other.
Work with your assistant
Copy the entry and give it to your assistant. Ask for an explanation, a comparison or an application to your own question.