Dialectical Societies: The Gê and Bororo of Central Brazil

Front Cover
David Maybury-Lewis
Harvard University Press, 1979 - History - 340 pages

The Gê-speaking tribes of Central Brazil have always been an anomaly in the annals of anthropology; their exceedingly simple technology contrasts sharply with their highly complex sociological and ideological traditions. Dialectical Societies, the outgrowth of extended anthropological research organized by David Maybury-Lewis, at long last demystifies Gê social structure while modifying and reinterpreting some of the traditional ideas held about kinship, affiliation, and descent.

Each of the seven contributors deals with a different lowland tribe, but all of them address an ideological focus on the dualistic tribal organization that is here defined as fundamental to the Gê As a collection, their work comprises a substantial revision of the hitherto undeveloped and largely ignored ethnography of Central Brazil.

From inside the book

Contents

Cycles and Trends in Krîkatí Naming Practices
16
The Relationship System of the Krahó
46
Terminology
83
Copyright

7 other sections not shown

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information