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).
Subjects
Basis of marriage
Regulation of marriage
Mode of marriage
Household
Clans
Phratries
culture
Tukano
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