El Cucuy:
A Latin American cautionary tale
Abstract:
In this project, the origins of the Latin American mythological being known as El Cucuy will be examined. El Cucuy is a boogeyman like figure with folktales ranging from Portugal, Mexico, Brazil, as well as Columbia. Seeing as the legend of El Cucuy has spanned countries and time, Franz Boas work regarding diffusion will come into play. Diffusion can be seen in the cultural variations of the cautionary tale of Latin America’s boogeyman spanning throughout generations. An examination of Marta Pavelkova’s work published by the Institute of ethnology at the Czech Academy of Sciences as well as Alan Gerardo Padilla Aguilar’s work published by the Latino Book Review titled The Origin of El Cucuy (El Coco) will be investigated.
