La Danza de la Yumbada en el Barrio la Magdalena

This book reflects on the yumbada that takes place year after year in the neighborhood of La Magdalena in the city of Quito. The yumbada is an indigenous and mestizo ritual dance that has been performed for generations. It is manifested in public places where the conception of the world, the human being, time and space are exposed. It is a representation of religious character because it invokes the sacred and interrupts the daily time; it dramatizes social problems within the community and concludes with a sacrificial act destined to achieve the reestablishment of the social and community order. This work arises from problems that link the modernity of Metropolitan Quito with the magical conception of the indigenous and mestizo peoples. At the same time it raises questions, proposes answers supported by contemporary symbolic, economic and urban anthropology, and provides insights into the intercultural character of a Latin American metropolis.