Identity, alterity and the Día de los Muertos in the Aymara plateau of Puno, Peru

Abstract

Based on a fieldwork, this paper discusses the role of the Día de los Muertos in the peruvian aymara plateau, in the social actor’s living identity. The fieldwork was realized in the comunidad of San Miguel de Alpaccollo (back then – 2013 and 2014 – parcialidad) in the Ilave district, province of El Collao, Puno region. In the text, I will detail the three years during which a family “has” a machaqa alma (‘new soul’), period that which corresponds to the mourning. Finally, I will discuss the role of the children as a symbol of the ancestors and their importance for the periodic reconstruction of the communitarian collective identity.