E-Book Overview
Since its first publication in 1979, this book, together with its companion volume, The Palm and the Pleiades by Stephen Hugh-Jones, has become established as 'the most competent and sophisticated ethnography to date of any South American tropical forest people' (The Times Higher Education Supplement). Both are now available for the first time in paperback. The book is an integrated account of a Northwest Amazonian society, which elucidates the structural models that underlie and unify the domains of kinship, religion, politics and economics. These dynamic models are built from a rich corpus of ethnographic data drawn from extensive field research, and are developed in such a way that, as far as possible, they reproduce an Indian theory of society. Besides enhancing anthropological understanding of a fascinating culture area, the book's highly original approach makes it an important contribution to the general theory of social and cultural structures.
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Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology General Editor: Jack Goody
26 FROM THE MILK RIVER
For a full list of titles in the series, see p. 303
From the MlkRiver\ Spatial and temporalprocesses in Northwest Amazonia CHRISTINE HUGH-JONES
The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK NEW ROCHELLE MELBOURNE SYDNEY
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www. c ambridge. org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521225441 © Cambridge University Press 1979 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1979 First paperback edition 1988 Re-issued in this digitally printed version 2007 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Hugh-Jones, Christine, 1943From the Milk River. (Cambridge studies in social anthropology; 26) Bibliography: p. Includes index. Based on the author's thesis, Cambridge University, 1977. 1. Barasana Indians. 2. Tucano Indians. 3. Macii Indians (Papury River watershed) I. Title. F2270.2.B27H82 980'.004'98 78-73126 ISBN 978-0-521-22544-1 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-35889-7 paperback
FOR LEO AND TOM
But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. BOB DYLAN
CONTENTS
List of figures, tables and maps List of myths Preface A cknowledgemen ts Orthography
page
x xii xiii xviii XX
1
Introduction Focus of the study Physical setting History of white influence Changes in traditional life The unit of study
1 1 3 5 9 11
2
Social structure Introduction The units Tukanoans and Maku My use of technical terms for Tukanoan units A note on exogamy and language The model Exogamous Groups The phratry The sib The local descent group The model applied Territory Names for groups The internal organisation ofExogamous Groups Functions of social-structural units Ideology of descent Origin of sib s The longhouse and its inhabitants Composition of the longhouse group The longhouse setting The longhouse
13 13 14 14 15 17 18 19 21 22 22 22 25 26 26 30 33 38 40 40 43 45
Contents The longhouse interior Social and economic organisation of the longhouse community
46 49
3
The set of specialist roles Erosion