Rural and indigenous society has a different conception of cleanliness to that of urban and white creole society. However, the relationship of subordination between them causes the latter to transfer their values to the former. Analyzing a case study (disappearance of the pig on Amantaní Island, Lake Titicaca), we propose that this transfer comprises two aspects: on the one hand, there is a transformation in the conception of the purity-pollution duality. This change in mentality is the result of different vectors, some aimed at indoctrinating the native (school, tourism, military service...), and others at grafting on them new values by way of transmission (migration, double residence...). The second aspect is determined by changes in the economic context and reproduction strategies. These changes allow for the replacement of practices, now discordant with the new conception of cleanliness, by new ones. The disappearance of the pig and the changes in notions of hygiene that can explain it are a microcosm: one that reflects the relationships of dependency and subordination, distinguishing not only the rural and indigenous world from the urban and western world, but also the strategies of the islanders to adapt to this society, and the social and economic differences that exist between them.