Content area
Scholarship within Paraguayan folklore has repeatedly struggled to effectively differentiate between Indigenous, European, and syncretic traditions. Historically, these conflations have worked in favor of nationalist movements that sought to craft a cohesive narrative about Paraguay and its past in order to perpetuate a myth of uninterrupted tradition, of the harmonious blending of Spanish and Guarani since the first days of colonization. The history of Paraguay, like its folklore, can be challenging to approach because of such influences. By establishing a concise yet detailed account of the Paraguayan nation-state’s formation, I also track the development of a distinctly Paraguayan identity. To demonstrate the impact of such nationalist interests upon Paraguayan folklore, I use a popular, modern-day folk figure in Paraguay as a case study: Kurupi. Often portrayed as a Master of Game and sexual predator of virginal girls, the Kurupi of Paraguayan culture is quite unlike the Kurupi of their Guarani neighbors: the Chiripa, Mbya, and Paĩ-Tavyterã. Contrary to commonly made assumptions, Kurupi rarely—if ever—functioned as a Master of Game or posed a danger to female virgins in autochthonous traditions of the Guarani and Tupi. As such, this investigation includes ethnographic accounts of Guarani society, spirituality, gender, and sexuality.