Children and young people in the southern Peruvian Andes about melodic sea monsters and seductive fish-women: Sirenas within concepts of gender, landscape and race in orality, visuality and television

Abstract

In this article, the relations between diverse concepts of sirenas (sirens/mermaids) are investigated by crossing the perspectives of young people and children with adults in two villages in the Cusco region, Peru. Sirenas are part of the Andean cosmovision and mythology as feminine beings that inhabit certain aquatic places. Their characteristics and significances vary among the different social actors and between generations. For some, they represent one of many aspects of danger, for others, they belong to the world of fantasy and dreams. This polyvalence in the concepts of sirenas does not only imply diverse perceptions and uses of space but also transmits several images of the role of women in Andean society. This article focuses on the voices of the research actors and their own narratives and representations. The text includes personal conversations and interviews in Quechua and Spanish as well as visual representations considered from an anthropological point of view. The findings can be useful for further investigation in educational sciences and developmental psychology, methodological issues on children’s drawings in social sciences and as a significant basis for pedagogical projects, for example children’s literature.