This article presents an analysis of the role of the body and its political significance in El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo by José María Arguedas. Special emphasis is placed on Arguedas’ representation of different forms of embodiment, including both material and textual manifestations of the body in pain, the corpse, disabled bodies and mythical bodies. The central argument is that Arguedas uses the representation of these distinct political bodies as a way to provoke a rethinking of Andean culture.