The Pishtaco

Institutionalized Fear in Highland Peru

Bibliographic Data

ID2765429
AuthorsAnthony Oliver‐smith (corresponding author), Anthony Oliver-Smith
Year1969
Volume82
Issue326
Pages363
Publication date1969-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of American Folklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8715 • E-ISSN: 1535-1882
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/539781
OpenAlexW2317035418
LanguageEN
Citations received13

THE FOLKLORE TRADITION of a culture often provides a wide spectrum of personages, ranging from supernatural, semidivine, or demonic figures to great culture heroes. These characters in folklore may serve as fruitful sources in the study of cultural patterning, personality cultural data, and value systems. One such figure, the study of which provides valuable information on intercultural relations and social conflict, is the pishtaco of the Andean area of South America.' The pishtaco may be described as a nocturnal murderer of Indians whose main objective is the extraction of fats from the bodies of his victims. These body fats (unto) are then sold to industries for the lubrication of machines of the modem world or to pharmacies to cure certain types of diseases. The pishtaco usually carries a long knife with which to behead and dismember his victims. In the vast majority of tales the pishiaco is a white or male, dressed in high boots, a leather jacket, and a felt hat. He is usually seen by the Indians as a large, evillooking man on horseback or occasionally driving a car. Pishtacos are often associated with the richest and most educated positions in highland society and are believed to carry safe-conduct passes and enjoy other privileges in the eyes of the law. (It should be mentioned here that the terms and mestizo are used as cultural labels in this paper. The term has lost its racial significance due to the high degree of mestizaje. Also used is cholo, a Peruvian label that describes a person of Indian background who is integrating himself into society.) The pishtaco tradition in Andean folklore is derived from certain practices of the conquering Spaniards in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in which human body fats were used in the treatment of wounds and disease. Fray Cristobal de Molina and Antonio Herrera, senior chronicler of the Indies, mention the

Aesthetics · Art · Ethnology · Folklore · Sociology · Value (mathematics · White (mutation · Anthropology · History · Latin American history and culture

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