The Tohono O’odham Nation lacks a solid economic base and the infrastructure necessary for many conventional forms of economic development.  As TOCA’s members began to explore ways of developing an economic foundation, we once again turned to our cultural heritage — in this case basketweaving.  For more than ten thousand years, the O’odham and their ancestors have woven some of the finest baskets in the world.  Today, the retail prices for O’odham baskets can be as high as several thousand dollars.  However, without direct access to markets, basketweavers have been at the mercy of unfair traders, often receiving less than a quarter of the retail price. In response, TOCA created a Basketweavers Organization that makes basketweaving a viable economic option and valued cultural practice for increased numbers of Tohono O’odham.  By working to regulate traders, developing a cooperative to market baskets, protecting the plants and habitats that provide basketry fibers and teaching a new generation of O’odham weavers, TOCA has drawn upon the O’odham Himdag to create sustainable economic development.

  Economic development & cultural revitalization through basketry have achieved specific goals over the past few years, including:

1. • Creation of a basketry marketing
   

cooperative which markets the art of over 200 Tohono O’odham basketweavers. In 2007, sales reached $145,000.

• TOCA organized and sponsored the annual Celebration of Basketry and Native Foods Festival, the largest gathering of Native basketweavers and food producers in the world.  This event draws over 300 Native weavers together for workshops on topics such as marketing and pricing.  In addition, the two-day market draws more than 1000 people annually and generates an estimated $125,000 in direct sales from artists to the public.  In 2007, this event “returned home” moving from the Heard Museum in Phoenix to the new Tohono O’odham Nation Museum and Cultural Center, Himdag Ki:, in Topawa.