essay

Mundurucú Indians: a dual system of ethics

Encyclopedia of moralsNew YorkPublished In 1956 • Pages: 369-374

By: Murphy, Robert Francis.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The purpose of this article is to contrast the behavior of the Mundurucu toward one another with that of outsiders, and to show how the intensity of this contrast is closely related to other aspects of the social system. The author gives a brief summary of the history of Mundurucu warfare with and for the Brazilian government, and stresses the importance of warfare in strengthening internal harmony. The role of the individual warrior, the position of sorcerers as scapegoats, and a general theoretical discussion of dual ethical systems are included.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Ethos
Cultural identity and pride
Ethics
Sorcery
Warfare
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Mundurucu
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2003
RegionThe area the document pertains to
South America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Amazon and Orinoco
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
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
George R. Bedell ; 1959
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1952-1953
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
eighteenth century -1953
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
central Brazil
NotesAdditional notes
by Robert F. Murphy
Includes bibliographical references
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Munduruku Indians