article
Guajiro social structure: a reexamination
Antropológica / Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle • 20 • Published In 1967 • Pages: 3-36
By: Watson, Lawrence Craig.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this paper the author has attempted to show that Guajiro society, rather than being the relatively undifferentiated and uncomplicated entity suggested in the literature, is in reality articulated by a complex hierarchy of social groups encompassing the nuclear family, the matrilocal family, the minimal matrilineage, the maximal matrilineage, and the matrilineal sib. Each of these groups performs a different configuration of institutional activities although there is some overlapping of particular functions. The nuclear family is a domestic unit which produces, distributes, and consumes basic resources like food, clothing, and shelter and educates children; the matrilocal extended family represents an extension of these functions, and it is also an agent of mutual aid and support; the minimal lineage is the unit in which property is transferred and where mutual defense and support are given, and where primary collective responsibility is taken for individual actions; the maximal lineage is the unit of political and military functions as well as the vested owner of natural resources such as pasturelands and wells; and finally, the matri-sib is a group whose members share a common name, a 'totemic' animal and spiritual ties, but does not itself have corporate functions (p. 33).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Lineages
- Clans
- Family relationships
- Nuclear family
- Extended families
- Community heads
- Residence
- Ethnoanatomy
- Ethnophysiology
- Avuncular and nepotic relatives
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Goajiro
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2012
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- South America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Northwestern South America
- 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.
- Ethnologist
- 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.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle; 2011
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Venezuela, South America
- NotesAdditional notes
- Lawrence C. Watson
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 34-36)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 65004908
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Goajiro Indians