Bibliography (Items of particular interest are in larger type)

Books: 

Auld, Rhoda L. 1977. Molas: What They Are, How to Make Them. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. A well-illustrated how-to book.

Caraway, Caren. 1981. The Mola Design Book. Owings Mills, MD: Stemmer House. Black and white drawings of mola designs.

Howe, James. 1986. The Kuna Gathering: Contemporary Village Politics in Panama. Austin: University of Texas Press. Number 67 in the series, Latin American Monographs.

Mathews, Kate. 1998. Molas! Patterns, Techniques, Projects for Colorful Appliqué. Asheville, NC: Lark Books. Information about the Kuna and their molas, many mola illustrations in color, plus step by step instructions for making molas and mola projects.

Parker, Ann, & Avon Neal. 1977. Molas: Folk Art of the Cuna Indians. Barre, MA: Barre Publishing. Distributed by Crown Publishers, New York. A detailed study of mola art by Avon Neal, illustrated with photographs by Ann Parker, including 186 in color and over 200 black and white.  The first good overview of molas for the general reader.

Perrin, Michel.  1999. Magnificent Molas: The Art of the Kuna Indians.  Italy: Flammarion.  Translated from the French by Deke Dusinberre.  A well-illustrated book illustrating twelve rationales for mola making, such as creativity, ancestral molas, as illustrations of kuna animals, representing religious/spiritual rites, and so on.

Presilla, Maricel E. 1996. Mola: Cuna Life Stories & Art. New York: Henry Holt and Company. A book for children on the Kuna and their molas, illustrated with many color photographs of molas.

Rohmer, Harriet. 1976. Cuna Song/Canción de los Cunas. San Francisco: Children's Book Press. A Kuna legend for children, in English and Spanish. From the series, Fifth World Tales.

Salvador, Mari Lyn, editor. 1997. The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning Among the Kuna of Panama. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. This exhibition catalog is a large well-illustrated book with a wealth of information on the Kuna and their art.  Excellent reference book with many detailed illustrations. 

Salvador, Mari Lyn. 1978. Yer Dailege! Kuna Woman's Art. Albuquerque: Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico. A study of mola art.

Shaffer, Frederick W. 1982, 1985. Mola Designs. Forty-five mola designs shown in black and white. Small color illustrations of several of the molas are also shown on the inside front and back covers of the book.

Sherzer, Joel. 1983. Kuna Ways of Speaking: An Ethnographic Perspective. Austin: University of Texas Press. A study of Kuna speech and language.

_____. 1990. Verbal Art in San Blas: Kuna Culture Through its Discourse. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. A study of Kuna verbal practices, ranging from reporting, formal speech making, and oratory to chants and magical communication with the spirit world.

Tice, Karein E. 1995. Kuna Crafts, Gender, & the Global Economy. Austin: University of Texas Press. Explores the impact of the commercialization of mola production on Kuna society.

Ventocilla, Jorge, et al. Edited by Hans Roeder. 1995. Plants and Animals in the Life of the Kuna. Austin: University of Texas Press. An original and accessible book on how the Kuna relate to the natural world. Illustrated with drawings by Kuna artist Ologuagdi.

Ventocilla, Jorge. 1991, 1994. We the Children of Mother Earth. Washington: NOAS Center of the National Zoological Park with the Tropical Research Institute, Smithsonian Institution. A coloring book created for Kuna children, with information on the people and animals of the San Blas Islands. Illustrations by Kuna artist Ologuagdi. The text is in English and Spanish.

 

Websites:

http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/the_art_of_being_kuna/eng/toc/index.htm  Illustrations of many older blouses with traditional mola designs