Homogeneity of the Amazon Basin

Homogeneity of the Amazon Basin

• Homogeneity of the Amazon Basin

• High average temperatures
• Poor soils
• rainforest

• Productivity differences

• Terra firme
• Várzea
• Social Ecology theories (Sociobiology)

Researchers:

• Researchers:

• Napoleon Chagnon (1964)
• William Smole (1976)
• Brian Ferguson (1995)
• Judith Shapiro (1972)
• Kenneth Good (1991)

• Controversy

• Are Yanomami Violence and Warfare Natural Human Efforts to Maximize Reproductive Fitness?

Physical Environment

• Physical Environment

• 117,500 km2 Orinoco highlands (southeastern Venezuela & northcentral Brazil)

• Mode of Production

• 80-90% horticulturalism (plantains, avocados, papayas, chili peppers, tobacco, and 3 types of tubers)
• Protein food, hunting and fishing

• Settlement Pattern

• Warfare as institution
• Shabono- family dwellings
• Criteria for its location

Mode of Reproduction

• Mode of Reproduction

• 200-250 villages
• 10-20,000 people
• Female infanticide & sex ratios
• Warfare as balance agent

• Domestic Economy

• Women’s duties
• Men’s duties

• Social Organization

• 2+ affinally related lineage groups
• Cross cousin marriages, bride service
• Internecine war (among kin)
• Domestic violence & protection from her family

Political Economy

• Political Economy

• “fights over women”
• Importance of trade
• Distrust and uncertainty
• Violence and killing
• Levels of violence
• Nomohori (dastradkt trick)

• Ritual and Leadership

• Headman who regulates violence
• Shamans use the hekura darts (enemies and the sick)
• Use of ebene for shamanistic initiation

• Ideology

• Four-layer cosmos and four-part soul
• Myth of waiteri “Moon’s blood”
• Children are vulnerable to malevolent shamans

Shuar-Jívaro

• Shuar-Jívaro

• Mundurucú

• Desana

• Conclusion