Book
Makuna social organization: a study in descent, alliance, and the formation of corporate groups in the north-western Amazon
Academiae Upsaliensis ; Distributed by Almqvist &Wiksell International • (4) • Published In 1981 • Pages: 379
By: Arhem, Kaj.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this work Arhem provides a detailed analysis of three fundamental aspects of the Makuna social reality based on the patrilineal descent system, the pattern of marriage alliance, and spatial organization. 'The Makuna social organization represents a general type of social system, which the author calls 'a system of segmentary alliance'. This type of social system is of considerable theoretical and comparative interest but has so far received little attention in the anthropological literature' (back cover, p. 382). In addition, this study offers a structuralist interpretation of comparative ethnographic material from northern, lowland, South America. The results of this comparison seem to indicate that '…various, apparently disparate indigenous social systems in this perspective represent transformation of a single, underlying structure, encoded in the prescriptive kinship terminology of these societies' (back cover, p. 382).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Basis of marriage
- Regulation of marriage
- Mode of marriage
- Household
- Clans
- Phratries
- 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 ; 1996
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- October 1971-December 1973
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1971-1973
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Komena Makuna Indians, Vaupés region of north-western Amazon, eastern Colombia
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Kaj Arhem
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Uppsala University, 1981
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 359-363) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 82183927
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Tukano Indians