El anaco andino: una mirada al artefacto vestimentario en la dinámica cultural

The anaco is a clothing artifact that covers the body of the Andean woman, identifying her ethnic group and shedding light on the dynamics of culture. In Ecuador, this garment is one of the cultural elements that has endured the longest in use, unlike other countries in the region. Worn during indigenous struggles, particularly at its peak in the 1990s, this clothing item contributed to the visibility of the ethnicity and their integration as social agents in the nation-state. Explored through clothing design and anthropology with an ethnographic focus, the aim is to analyze the anaco as an object of everyday life reflecting cultural dynamics between indigenous and non-indigenous people. The regular use of the anaco illustrates a resistance process within a historically dominated group. However, like the peoples it identifies, both the garment and its wearers are not static representations of the past; they adapt and transform. Indeed, the anaco evolves over time and in the context of interethnic relations, incorporating features that modify the aesthetics of the artifact and the body it adorns. In this sense, the anaco serves as an identity marker navigating between resistance and innovation.