Contribution to the study of the Uru or Kot'suñ Indians

Vellard, Jehan A. (Jehan Albert); Reynolds, Priscilla

article

Contribution to the study of the Uru or Kot'suñ Indians

Travaux de l'Institut Francais d'Etudes Andines • 1 • Published In 1949 • Pages: HRAF ms: 1-51 [Original: 145-209 ]

By: Vellard, Jehan A. (Jehan Albert), Reynolds, Priscilla.

Abstract
This important, though limited, source is the first of a series of articles by Vellard and his associates resulting from a long range, multi-disciplinary research project centering upon the Lake Titicaca region of the Andes. A significant part of the author's own research focused on the Uru of Iru-Itu. He says he first visited the Uru in 1938 and claims to have remained in steady contact with during his stay in Bolivia from 1940 to 1944 (in a later publication he notes that he made frequent trips to Iru-Itu between 1940 and 1954). The article opens with a short but crucial discussion of the devastating impact upon Uru life of the severe drought which struck the area from 1940 to 1945, resulting in the virtual extinction of the Uru as an ethnic group. The bulk of the article that follows is in two major sections: linguistic and cultural data; and physical anthropology, consisting principally of anthropometric and serological data (with a detailed list of the inhabitants of Iru-Itu in 1942). The first section contains a series of Uru language texts from two elderly male informants on various topics, followed by an analysis of each consisting of a free translation, a commentary, and linguistic notes. Topics are primarily about the manufacture of balsa boats, fishing, hunting waterfowl, funeral customs, and various beliefs and attitudes. Particularly interesting comparisons are made between Uru and Chipaya texts from the standpoint of linguistics and cultural emphases.

Cultural identity and pride

Speech

Linguistic identification

Cultural participation

Community structure

Inter-community relations

Inter-ethnic relations

Fishing

Ethnosociology

Ethnometeorology

General character of religion

Organized ceremonial