The Eastern Timbira

Nimuendaju, Curt; Lowie, Robert Harry

Book

The Eastern Timbira

Universtiy of California Press • 41 • Published In 1946 • Pages: x, 357 , 42 plates

By: Nimuendaju, Curt, Lowie, Robert Harry.

Abstract
The study is based upon detailed historical research on the Ge, and specifically the Timbira peoples, and considerable field investigation among the Timbira tribes as detailed herewith: Kreye, Apanyekra, Kreye of Cajuapara, Kukoekamekra, Krikati, Krepumkateye were visited or informants from these tribes were interviewed on visits. In these instances the author was principally concerned with securing a word list. These visits covered the period 1913-1930. Nimuendaju spent two months among the Kraho in 1930 and six months with the Timbira of Araprytua in 1914-15, but his main field research was among the Ramkokamekra with whom he stayed for a total of thirteen and one half months, distributed through the years: 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, and 1936. The author gives a comprehensive and critical summary of the classifications of the Ge peoples in which his vast first-hand knowledge is decisive. Even more thorough is his account of the history of the Timbira and the component tribes. The bulk of the description of the contemporary Timbira refers to the Ramkokamekra (to which our field date exclusively refers), although relevant information on the other Timbira tribes is incorporated throughout. Most aspects of Timbira culture are treated by topics, but much additional information may be gleaned from the detailed descriptions of the major festivals. These latter are only superficially analyzed by the author who does not always clearly define the roles of the participant societies nor interrelate the different components of the social structure. The failure of Nimuendaju to interpret much of his data in no way impairs the excellent quality of the source which bristles with critical observations of a participant in the culture, which he grew to know intimately over a twenty-three year period. An excellent bibliography (pp. 251-258) and glossary (pp. 259-261) are appended.

Puberty and initiation

Athletic sports

Rest days and holidays