Book

Family and social life of the Nambikwara Indians

Société des AméricanistesParis • Published In 1948 • Pages:

By: Lévi-Strauss, Claude, Sittler, Eileen.

Abstract
Except for a slighting of material culture, this is a well-rounded source on the culture of the Nambicuara (spelled Nambikwara by the author), concentrating on the spheres of interest noted in the title, but also containing much material on linguistics, group psychology, and inter-group relations. The culture and individual psychology of the Nambicuara are seen as dualistic in nature, reflecting the dualism of their mode of life, which is nomadic and scattered in the dry season, and communal in the rainy season. The author sees relationships with the Andean and Sub-Andean cultures of the West and North, and also with the Tupinamba of the Brazilian coast. This monograph was presented to the Faculty of Letters of the University of Paris as a complementary thesis, and was also published in the Journal de la Société des Americanistes de Paris, N.S., t.XXXVII, pp. 1-131, 1948. Bibliographical information is contained in footnotes to each page. At that time he was Maere de Conférences des Facultés at the University of Paris.
Subjects
Household
Ethos
Normal garb
Ornament
Annual cycle
Tillage
Sleeping
Kinship terminology
Kin relationships
Regulation of marriage
Personal names
Burial practices and funerals
Community structure
Community heads
Population
Household
Ingroup antagonisms
culture
Nambicuara
HRAF PubDate
2010
Region
South America
Sub Region
Amazon and Orinoco
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Timothy J. O'Leary ; 1958
Field Date
1938-1939
Coverage Date
1907-1939
Coverage Place
Mato Grosso state, Brazil
Notes
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Translation of: [La vie familiale et sociale des Indiens Nambikwara]
Translated for the HRAF files by Eileen Sittler in1958
LCSH
Nambicuara Indians