Book

The Cubeo: Indians of the Northwest Amazon

University of Illinois Press (2)Published In 1963 • Pages: x, 305

By: Goldman, Irving.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This book was written after ten months' field work among the Cubeo (a Tucano subgroup living on the Vaupés River) during the years 1939-1940. The author was 'adopted' into the household of the headman of the Bahúkiwa sib, and much of the data presented pertains to this sib. At the time of Goldman's study, there were about 2500 Cubeo left with outside acculturative influences at a minimum, but since that time with the wartime rubber boom and with increased missionizing and colonizing activities, the population has dropped to around the 1000 mark, with the younger generation rapidly becoming acculturated. Emphasis in this work is on social structure and ceremonial patterns, with the remainder of the source providing a framework for the author's analysis. There is an introductory chapter on the Cubeo community, followed by chapters on economic life, the sib, kinship and marriage, leadership and authority, development of the individual, the ancestor cult, the mourning ceremony and religion. The introduction presents data on the general physical and cultural characteristics of the Northwest Amazon region, with a survey of its principal tribes. The final chapter presents his structural analysis of Cubeo society in which he attempts to depict not only what is Cubeo in content, but also to lay the bases for two successively broader typological characterizations, the tropical forest economics of South America as a whole, and 'simple' horticultural economics in general.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Fishing
Vegetable production
Settlement patterns
Visiting and hospitality
Clans
Community structure
Mourning
Cult of the dead
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Tukano
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
1998
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
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 ; 1969
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1939-1940
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1939-1940
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Cubeo Indians; Vaupés River region, Colombia
NotesAdditional notes
Irving Goldman
Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-297) and index
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
62013212
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Tucano Indians