Book

The Mataco of the Gran Chaco: an ethnographic account of change and continuity in Mataco socio-economic organization

Academiae Upsaliensis ; Distributed by Almqvist &Wiskell International (11)Published In 1988 • Pages: XVI, 314

By: Alvarsson, Jan-Åke.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This dissertation gives a detailed, diachronic description of the social, political, legal and economic organization of the Mataco - hunters and gatherers of the tropical dry forest of the Bolivian Gran Chaco. The account starts with a critical review of the main ethnographic sources on the Chaco peoples and, after sections on the enviornment and the local history, it presents an attempt to reconstruct the socio-economic organization of the Mataco before the colonization of the area, i.e. before the turn of the century. In addition, on the basis of Alvarsson's field notes from five years among the Mataco, new ethnographic data is included. The data demonstrate that, in spite of evident social change, and in contrast to other Indian peoples of the region, the Mataco have refused to be incorporated into the national society.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Fauna
Flora
Food quest
Division of labor by gender
Household
Community structure
Cosmology
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Mataco
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
1997
RegionThe area the document pertains to
South America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southern South America
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
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.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 1995
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1976-1985
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
ca.1900-1985
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Gran Chaco region, Bolivia, Argentina
NotesAdditional notes
by Jan-åke Alvarsson
Revision of the author's dissertation
Includes bibliographical references (p. 302-310) and index
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
89135346
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Mataco Indians