Análisis de la indumentaria femenina del pueblo Puruhá desde las funciones del vestido

Abstract

This research analyzes the women's clothing of the Puruhá people from the perspective of the functions of dress, with the aim of contributing to the visibility of their cultural identity and the strengthening of their collective memory. The study is based on the recognition that Puruhá clothing constitutes a cultural, symbolic, and functional system that integrates ancestral techniques, community meanings, and practices rooted in everyday life. However, documentation of this clothing has been limited, resulting in theoretical gaps and insufficient representation in academic and visual records. Methodologically, the research was conducted using a qualitative and ethnographic approach, combining literature review, participant observation, semistructured interviews, and photographic records in the communities of Pulucate, Balda, Llin llín, and La Merced, which belong to the parish of Columbe. This process made it possible to survey traditional garments such as the bayeta, anaco, changalli, lishta, sashes, walkas, and accessories, as well as their uses, meanings, and transformations in the face of contemporary dynamics. Analysis based on the utilitarian, communicative, and symbolic-aesthetic functions of clothing shows that Puruhá attire protects and facilitates productive activities, while also communicating territorial belonging, social role, historical memory, and spiritual values linked to the Andean worldview. It is concluded that Puruhá women's clothing is a device of identity that sustains the cultural continuity of the people and functions as a living archive of textile knowledge that deserves to be recorded, preserved, and passed on to new generations through documentation and cultural dissemination.