ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to investigate how distinct groups of villagers and migrants contribute to the construction of Tapeño notions of culture and identity. It discusses what role these perspectives play in our understanding of cultural authenticity and anthropological authority in an Andean context. Tapay's non-migrants constitute a minority within the Tapeño population and see themselves as such. Most are children and elderly people who have largely given up trying to influence the social and political life of the district. Tapay migrants in Arequipa have developed a great interest in the dance and musical traditions of their native village. This has fostered an annual folklore festival where migrants from Tapay and its neighbouring villages present the kind of dance, ceremony or ritual activity which they consider representative of their native village. The chapter concludes by extrapolating a distinct anthropological perspective from the Andean mosaic.
