This work sought to understand the construction of personal identity in boys and girls belonging to the indigenous Aymara people who live in the altiplano of the northern Chile. The research design was qualitative, using the story-drawing procedure and adopting a narrative strategy for data analysis. The study participants were ten boys and girls from 5 to 9 years old, residing in the highland commune of Putre. Results show the presence of the three dimensions of personal identity raised from constructivism: unity of the self, integration of the self, and integration with others; elements of Aymara culture were observed cross-sectionally in these. The Andean environment was a fourth dimension, emerging as an articulating axis. The complementarity of the cultural and evolutionary aspects in the construction of personal identity in Aymara boys and girls is discussed, implying an approach to think about personal identity that considers the present moment of the worldview and history of the Aymara people, and the particularities of children’s identity.
Keywords:
aymara, childhood, Andean environment, personal identity, culture
Yañez Medina, C. A., & Capella Sepúlveda, C. (2021). Construction of Personal Identity in Native Aymara Boys and Girls in Chile. Revista De Psicología, 30(2). https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2021.60644
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