Touching

Tactile Analytics Touching as a Collective Act

Playing with the small, knitted swatch of alpaca wool in my hand, I lost track of time. The small piece of textile had become a riddle for me. The swatch was made up of rice stitches overlaid with a large diamond shape that formed a braided design. I kept feeling the weave, the tautness of each knot, rubbing my fingers back and forth. But at first my touch was blind to the culture and craft of the artisan’s work. It would take me months to learn to feel the material qualities of alpaca wool, to appreciate the knowledge conveyed through touch. The knitted surface was as important as the design; it interlaced sociocultural negotiations, histories, and layers of meaning (Alvarez Astacio 2015). To appreciate the density of this surface, I had to learn a different form of touch that could recognize the ontological complexity of this material surface. At the very least, I need to recognize the gap between my own conditioned tactility and that which is materialized in alpaca textiles. Within the fashion industry, alpaca wool is considered a luxury material; it is softer, lighter, and stronger than cashmere or sheep wool. Alpaca wool garments and accessories are especially valued for their ability to trigger imaginaries of pristine Andean indigenous communities. They are marketed as eco-friendly, long-lasting, and resistant to stains, odors, flames, and wrinkles. Alpaca wool is indeed a high-quality material, valued by twenty-first- century consumers and contemporary indigenous artisans in the highlands, but for different reasons.