Revenge in the Cultures of Lowland South America

by Beckerman, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780813031644
• ISBN10: 0813031648
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-02-24
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Florida

Summary

This extraordinary ethnography is the first devoted to the study of revenge. The contributors describe this social phenomenon in fourteen tribal societies, comparing its violent manifestations as well as its more idiosyncratic forms. Blood revenge at spear point is common in certain regions of aboriginal lowland South America; in other areas revenge is implicated in seemingly unrelated areas of daily life, from child naming to explanations for sickness. Revenge is a universal human motive that reveals fundamental social structure as do few other aspects of culture. The contributors discuss the origins, manifestations, and consequences of vengeance. They illustrate not only how revenge lays bare crucial boundaries and is bound to myth and ritual as well as to survival but also show the profound consequences of revenge for reproduction and the daily workings of society.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
Revenge: An Overview	p. 1
Revenge and Reproduction: The Biopolitics of Caring and Killing in Native Amazonia	p. 10
Compelling Exchanges: Curripaco Revenge and Warfare	p. 22
Guesting, Feasting, and Raiding: Transformations of Violence in the Northwest Amazon	p. 42
On Cannibalism, Yanomami Warfare, Temporality, and Production of Life	p. 60
A Life for a Life: Bari Responses to Murder in the Sierra de Perija	p. 79
Revenge, Bride Capture, and Gender Strategies for Survival among the Waorani	p. 93
Inca Policies to Contain Revenge	p. 117
Canela Vengeance: Formerly Compulsory, Currently Dissipated	p. 139
Revenge, Envy, and Cultural Change in an Amazonian Society	p. 162
"The Jaguar's Pineapple": Secoya Shamanic Violence and the Dangers of Cannibalism in the Ecuadorian Amazon	p. 187
Social Control, Revenge, and Identity among the Caura Ye'kwana of Venezuela	p. 201
Envy and Revenge: The Case of the Piaroa	p. 216
The Animals' Revenge	p. 233
Onomastic Vengeance and the Writing of History	p. 242
Vengeance, Societies, and Powers in Amazonian Societies	p. 259
Bibliography	p. 271
About the Contributors	p. 291
Index	p. 293
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