This work by Ranulfo Cavero is the result of sustained and patient investigative work that draws on the noble ethnographic tradition of the towns in the Peruvian interior. The author explores with singular depth the taboo of incest and Andean forms of social control, revealing how the belief in the metamorphosis of transgressors into demonic llamas constitutes a sophisticated system of social regulation. Through rigorous anthropological analysis, Cavero demonstrates that Andean social control is not a loose metaphor, but a complex framework of specific conceptions that order sexuality and maintain community cohesion. With a prologue by Alejandro Ortiz Rescaniere, this work represents a fundamental contribution to Andean studies on sexual order and social dynamics in the Peruvian Andes.
