Making Persons, Marking Difference

Procreation beliefs are frequently highly illuminating in understanding how relations between persons are conceived. This chapter examines how procreation beliefs illuminate the understanding of ethnic and racial difference in the central Andes of South America. Thus procreation beliefs, beliefs relating to how persons are created, illuminate greatly the difference between Indians and non-Indians for the people of Pocobaya and other similar groups. Pocobaya is a hamlet of 220 people in the Bolivian Andes. The people are Aymara-speakers and are agriculturists who benefit from the sharp relief of the Andes to exploit a number of different ecological zones. The distinction between being an indian and a member of the large and predominant mestizo community is highly significant in the Bolivian context. Fiestas are the points in the annual calendar by which both conceptions and births are reckoned. The annual cycle in Pocobaya is marked by periods of sociality and periods when people interact very little beyond the household

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