Legends of Oral Tradition, with Mercedes Cano Herrera

Transmitters and function of oral tradition legends in traditional societies.

Archaeologist Mercedes Cano Herrera is the guest of the 'Legends of Oral Tradition' event, a proposal organized by the Castilian and Leonese Language Institute and the Salamanca City Council. This event is a commitment to recover and disseminate the abundant oral tradition existing in Castilla y León, with legends and stories born in the rural world that pass from generation to generation to reach our days.

María de las Mercedes Cano Herrera was initially a professor of Prehistory at the Complutense University and the University of Santiago de Compostela. She obtained her doctorate in Prehistory in 1976 at the University of Valladolid, where she served as a tenured professor of Social Anthropology until her retirement in August 2021; at this latter University, she acted as coordinator of the Interuniversity PhD program in Anthropology of Iberoamerica until its discontinuation with the new plans, and director of the Official Interuniversity Master's in Anthropology of Iberoamerica with the Universities of Salamanca and León.

She has carried out fieldwork, among other places, in La Alberca, Cantabria, Maragatería, Tierra de Campos, Wallmapu ('La Araucanía', in Chile, living with the Mapuche people), and northeastern Brazil. Her research lines have essentially been six: cultural manifestations of traditional life and their insertion into current societies; mythology and traditional legends; new social movements and power relations, with a special focus on the animal rights movement; the Mapuche people and their interactions with dominant social groups; gender and kinship; and intercultural research.

Organized by: Castilian and Leonese Language Institute Foundation.