Territorio e identidad en los Andes. Concepciones populares en torno a las zonas ecológicas altas en la sierra de Lima

Abstract

In Andean villages, there is a space called Alturas, Puna, Jalea or Pampa. This space usually includes rocks, grasslands, meadows, pastures, springs and snow. It is the stage for romance among the youth as well as the roaming of herdsmen. Andean peasants view it as a space of alterity. The author discusses some aspects of this Andean perception: alterity as a dangerous, indistinctive, fascinating place. When one writes about alterity, logically it is impossible not to speak, at the same time, about identity, about the values and feelings linked to such space. The analysis relies on the particularities of the mythological characters associated with it and on the implicit meanings of the native term designating it.