article

Tappers and sappers: rubber, gold and money among the Mundurucú

American ethnologist16 (1)Published In 1989 • Pages: 100-116

By: Burkhalter, S. Brian, Murphy, Robert Francis.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This paper presents a description and analysis of the social and cultural changes that have taken place among the Mundurucu Indians of the upper Tapajós river, Brazil from the time of Robert Murphy's field work in 1952-1953 to that of S. Brian Burkhalter's in 1979-1980. During this period a transition took place in the Mundurucu trade economy in wild rubber, exchanged through a barter-trade system, to the digging of placer gold within the context of a cash economy. This change '…has seen a further erosion of institutions based on communality, commensality, and cooperation, and a growing prevalence of monetary objectification of persons and their labors' (p. 100).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Acculturation and culture contact
Sociocultural trends
Cultural participation
Forest products
Mining and quarrying
Gift giving
Buying and selling
Medium of exchange
External trade
Retail marketing
Credit
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
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 ; 2001
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1952-1953, 1979-1980
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1953-1980
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Upper Tapajós River area, State of Para, Brazil
NotesAdditional notes
S. Brian Burkhalter and Robert F. Murphy
Includes bibliographical references (p.115-116)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
74644326
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Munduruku Indians