Book
Makuna social organization: a study in descent, alliance, and the formation of corporate groups in the north-western Amazon
Academiae Upsaliensis ; Distributed by Almqvist &Wiksell International • (4) • Published In 1981 • Pages: 379
By: Arhem, Kaj.
Abstract
In this work Arhem provides a detailed analysis of three fundamental aspects of the Makuna social reality based on the patrilineal descent system, the pattern of marriage alliance, and spatial organization. 'The Makuna social organization represents a general type of social system, which the author calls 'a system of segmentary alliance'. This type of social system is of considerable theoretical and comparative interest but has so far received little attention in the anthropological literature' (back cover, p. 382). In addition, this study offers a structuralist interpretation of comparative ethnographic material from northern, lowland, South America. The results of this comparison seem to indicate that '…various, apparently disparate indigenous social systems in this perspective represent transformation of a single, underlying structure, encoded in the prescriptive kinship terminology of these societies' (back cover, p. 382).
- HRAF PubDate
- 1998
- Region
- South America
- Sub Region
- Amazon and Orinoco
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 1996
- Field Date
- October 1971-December 1973
- Coverage Date
- 1971-1973
- Coverage Place
- Komena Makuna Indians, Vaupés region of north-western Amazon, eastern Colombia
- Notes
- by Kaj Arhem
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 359-363) and index
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Uppsala University, 1981
- LCCN
- 82183927
- LCSH
- Tukano Indians