WHAT IS ASUR?
The name of this institution is: The Foundation for Anthropological Investigation and Ethno development "Anthropologists of the Southern Andes" (Antropólogos del Surandino).
WHAT IS THE MISSION OF ASUR?
To encourage indigenous artistic and handicraft production of high quality and its commercialization, with the aim of:
- generating employment and income in the rural areas
- revitalizing the communities'' cultural creativity
- giving spiritual enrichment to the customer
- and strengthening the touristic development of Sucre.
Given that ASUR conceives of indigenous economic development as something inseparable from its cultural context, ASUR gives priority to craft production of high quality, on the basis of the creativity of traditional Andean communities, without excluding other productive possibilities.
textil jalq''a Museo Textil Etnográfico ASUR
ASUR''s experience with the Jalq''aTarabuco Textile Program shows that weavings satisfy people''s spiritual, or aestheticcultural, needs. These weavings "say something deep", demonstrating that indigenous cultures are not necessarily condemned to extinction and have something to contribute to postmodern global society, where they can find an adequate niche if the products are of high aesthetic and conceptual quality and are expressed in their own authentic ethnic style.