article
Seri bands
Kiva • 28 (3) • Published In 1963 • Pages: 14-27
By: Moser, Edward W..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This resource describes the structure and organization of Seri bands. The author covers territorial distribution of band settlements, their internal subdivisions and dialects spoken, the unilineal features of the clans within the bands, and dynamics of the formation and collapse of the band system. Based on his fieldwork, the author argues that early internal enmity and hostility within the tribe led to its original splitting up or division into independent band units, but it was hostile relations and warfare with the Mexican government that finally led to destructive changes to the band system that lead to the single, somewhat homogenous society identified as the Seri in the 20th century. The author also argues that the Seri have ‘true’ clans in the Murdockian sense (Murdock 1949, 68) called iʔiziitang- thus the discussion of clans is marked 618 for this document. Also of note, this author identifies Seri clans as patrilineal though other authors (within this collection) argue for matrilineal systems.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Traditional history
- Ingroup antagonisms
- Community structure
- Inter-community relations
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Seri
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Northern Mexico
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Linguist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Gilbert Winer ; 1967; Leon G. Doyon ; 2022
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1956-1961
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1952-1961
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Sonora, Mexico
- NotesAdditional notes
- Edward Moser
- see 618 Localized Kin Groups for discussion of clans, 614 is used for generalized information about clans. Footnotes are marked as 116.
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 41020657
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Seri Indians