The Andean Mother Pachamama: A Mothering Community Paradigm

Abstract: The Andean Mother Pachamama, often called Mother Earth, undergirds a freedom struggle revitalizing the indigenous mountain spine of South America. In Lake Titiqaqa communities in Peru and Bolivia, farmers build relation with a Mother vast as well as immanent, celebrate with urbanites in explosions of spiritual art and music, and pilgrimage with Catholics and tourists to a site famed for millennia. Quick modern greetings overlook Pachamama as the profound core of Andean life for young and old. We could support an endangered spirituality that nurtures environments, gender-balance, and diverse peoples in mothering communities—as ancient Andean prophecy widely foretells.

Presenter bio: Dr. Mary Louise Stone lived twelve years in Quechua and Aymara communities around Lake Titiqaqa in Peru and Bolivia, consulting on community-run tourism with villages, universities, and Duke University. She published on the Andean Mother and women’s roles in Anthropology of Mothering and Cambridge Archaeology and presented nationally and internationally.

Affiliation: Independent Scholar in New Mexico, USA, and Isla Taquile, Puno, Peru