Susana Perea-Fox

co-author, transcriber and editor of Historia, Mitos y Leyendas de la Laguna Blanca

February 4, 2012

Carlos Quilaqueo, the story teller of these stories, lives in Laguna Blanca National Park, an area protected by the Argentinean National Parks Administration, in western Neuquén province. Quilaqueo is a single 60-year-old inhabitant of the Pichi Ã‘ireco area. His father is Ranquel and his mother Mapuche. Quilaqueo did not finish his basic education but he remains informed of local, national, and international events. He is especially knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the area. He works as a park ranger assistant and fire fighter for the Park.

Originally from Mexico, Dr. Susana Perea-Fox is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. She is Spanish Editor for the Southwestern Association of Naturalists. Perea-Fox obtained her Bachelors' degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies at Oklahoma State University; and her Master's and Doctoral degrees in Latin American Literature and Social Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. Perea-Fox has published an earlier book entitled Elena Garro y los rostros de poder in 2007, and several articles exploring women's writing.

Argentinean Mariana Iriarte received her Bachelor's degree in Tourism at the National University of the South, Argentina. She wrote her senior thesis on the importance of Oral Narrative as a Natural Tourism Resource of Laguna Blanca National Park. She has presented her work in several professional meetings and has worked as a tourist guide in Monte Hermoso, in Bahía Blanca, Argentina.

This book presents a collection of stories, myths and legends of the Laguna Blanca in Neuquén, Argentina. The storyteller, Carlos Quilaqueo, a Mapuche inhabitant of the region, shares his knowledge of the plants, animals, places, the history and the imaginary shared and passed orally from his ancestors to him and his contemporaries. We transcribed the stories as close as possible to the actual narration by Quilaqueo and organized them by topics to facilitate its reading. We compared them to other Mapuche and Tehuelche stories primarily, and analyzed some of their symbolic meaning.

This book has been awarded "The Adele Mellen Prize" for its distinguished contribution to scholarship.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2012-honorees/susana-perea-fox

Last Updated: 12 January 2022