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The Social Organization of the Araona
Donald Pitman Dean nrnold Instituto I.ingui
de Verano
/)&£. The Araona m m a Tacanan speaking group presently numbering; fifty
persons who live on the north side of the upper Manupari River in the
province of Iturralde in the department .of La Paz in northwestern Ho.' 'via.
Besides Araona, there are only three other surviving members of the Tacana
language family, all of which are in Bolivia: Tacana (and a closely relet.
dialect-Reyesano), Ese Ejja (also called Chama) and Cavineno.
The Araona formerly were more mobile within a larger territory .an
they are today. Between approximately 1910 and 19&5 the Araona lived
in many locations between the headwaters of the Manurimi and the Manin)ari
rivers. They would! stay in one location for only a few years and then
•ove, sometimes because of a death in the group and sometimes in order
to find more plentiful food supplies. They subsisted mainly on wild fruit
Brazil nuts and wild game, though they did practice some swidden agricultu . •
planting mostly maize and platanos. Since the group did not possess more
than one steel axe between 1910 and 1958, cultivated fields were iBcessaril
small during this time.
Little is known of the Araona social erganization, ana data that doer
exist on the subject is inaccurate (Metraux, 19^5 - 4 ^ 6 ) . I n treatment
of the Tacanan pepples, in the Handbook of South American Indians Metraux
notes that Araona men could only marry Cavina women and vice versa
(Metraux, 19^55^6). The implication is that these represent two distinct
language groups. Moreover, in the introductory material in the Handbook
article, it seems Cavina is equated and/or confused with Cavineno
(Metraux, 19^5
With Pitraans' residence of nine years among the Araona, however,
it is now quite clear that the Cavina and Araona are a dual division
(or moiety) of the same group; the people calling themselves by these
two names speak the same language which we shall now call Araona.
Cavineino (Cavinena), on the other hand, is a separate language still
spoken by more than a hundred persons most of whom still live at or
near the Mission of Cavinas on the Beni River 150 kilometers east of
the Araonas. The language differs from Araona as much as do Ese Ejja
and Tacana. None are mutually intelligible*
Armentia (1887:50) also pointed out that the Cavina and Araona
were separate sections of the same group which had the same language,
religion and customs. His description of the Araona is probably the
best available^*
The purpose of this paper is to document the contemporary Jbnhmk
social organization of the Araonafwhieh^has changed greatly over the
last fifty years because of the decimation of the population. Since
they are so few in number, there is always the possibility that they
could completely disappear even though the population has increased
from 39 to 50 persons since contact with them in 1963. Thus, any
written record of their culture will be an important contribution to a
description of peoples in the Bolivian selva.
3
Social Organization
The basic organization of the Araona follows a dual division into
moieties: one called the Araona and the other called Cavina. Member-
ship in these two groups is inherited patrilineally. In addition, males
and females in each group are given names of male and female members
of previous generations of that group,.
The dual organization relates primarily to patterns of marriage
and residence. In marriage, the ideal pattern is to obtain a wife from
the opposite moiety. For residence, memberscof each moiety live in a
separate area. In 1966, for example, the Araona group lived on one
§ bank of a stream, and the only^Cavina man at that time lived on the
other bank of the stream. There are also linguistic texts which suggest
that the Araona and Cavina residence groupe were separated by even more
distance in the past* Furthermore, the marriage and residence patterns
are themselves interrelated in the patrilocal post-nuptial residence
patterns of the Araona;. females go to live with their husbands in a
separate house in the section of the village where his family resides.
Kinship
There are no subdivisions beyond the basic moiety division of the
Araona except kinship relations. A person's relatives are called
doemetse cana or "those who are With or belong to me" ar/; include only
those within his own moiety (Figure 1). Although there is terminology
for individuals in the opposite moiety who are linked to ep-o through his
mother or spous£ they are not considered relatives.-
Figure 1
CAVINA ^u ̂ ..arj of Arson a Kin Tcx'tiis
>l Moiety 'of Ego ARAOi<A
G A V I R A
Hales • •• i
>Males la, babashodi tadi mama mamazao todi otse
^Females . mu}tfir< o t s e
3* ano n e n e — ^ a n o dodo * anodi
Akoiux £aj now also
dodo
Females kq
babashodi tadi noo nolipi ocua otse
2a ano nene dodo sdoelipi-onecua otse
now also
^„otse ) noBipi
^ n o w also _ano
— V dodo
->dodo
ArtOl-fAlfilt v _^now ° ' 5« ano huadi, cuala h u a h u a ? — ^ ^ boi huahua? boi boilimi \*huadi ; > Females . 5I....1.1
«/ .< j K'. s o t s e cuala A R > - A -0
| N i a
» \ tic hi? Males
7a babashodi jojo otse
6a ano huadi, cuala huahua? bacue? anodi otse
Attoilk TA(*>ytiM ->now also onecua
8a L babashodi
jojd, ini ! babadi
todi otse
•Fe: ••••les Asi lA J r r
Pb babashodi jojo babadi? todi otse
6b ano huadi, cuala huahua bacue anodi otse
2b ano nene dodo edoelipi onacua otse
kb i babashodi
tadi noo
! nolipi ocua? otse
-jCi'A rfArrfJil t,*/ <> Now also -> dodo
Ar+o; ;> T* m i-; ->now also
nolipi
todi
Mai r-7*
! babashoai jojo otse
5b ano huadi, cuala huahua boilimi otse
3b ano nene— dodo anodi otse
5/7A now als® dodo
huadi huahua
lb. babashodi tadi mama mamazao todi otse
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The Current Situation
The current group of Araonas consists of the descendants from two
families who escaped from captors who had taken them to a distant
location. In 1972, only two of the original escapees wfere st.::. livi; .
One of these escapees, Sihui, recalled in a recorded text thai hi;
family was captured when they were living on the nofcth side of the upper
Manurimi Biver. (He was only eight or ten years old at the time).
They were taken to a location where rubber was gathered since Sihui talked
about the rubber work and the river launches which came to transport the
rubber. This area was most likely along the Madre de Dios River.
At their destination, his father was forced to clean chacras and
gather leaves for house construction. The eldest son* was tau ht to I
use a gun and was then required to hunt in order to obtain meat. However,
the family was only allowed to eat the less desirable parts of the
meat and that which was left after the captors had eaten.
Sihui states that they were beaten if they did nor work satisfactorily
and, for this reason, they escaped. They were tracked dov/n, however,
and the father was shot and killed. The remainder of the family eventually
returned to the Manurimi-Manupari area where they encountered a Cavina
family who had also recently escaped from a similar sit-.; stion»
Thus, the present Araona group began with 1mm families. One of
these was Araona and consisted of three young men and 1• eir not r.
The other family was Cavina and consisted of a w**w male ar.d female and
two children: one was from the female's previous marriage. ecause
of the large number of Araona males in the original group^ the resultant
marriages pro-' ced a preponderance of Araona offspring.
As a result, only one of seven of the present generation of Araona men
wife. &ince the remainder of these men had to marry relative fro:: .
within their own moiety, the resulting linkages created a dun 'I •
nology for each of several persons, and thus produced uncertainty as
to which kinship term to use for these relatives. Furthermore, the
practice of polygyny in the Araona moiety-has reduced the number of
marriageable females, not only of the ideal type (i.e. Cavina females)
but^ the practice has also reduced the numbers of females of marriapeabl
age in general. These factors have further forced marriages t e-eween
individuals of previously unacceptable kin categories. This, i:. turn,
has created more confusion in kinship terminology. ' Consequent] •, . <
cannot determine the precise meanings of some kin terms. Irfleed, some
terms for linkages more distant to ego than siblings or parent? are
in the process of being deleted from the system. Table 1 lists the
kin terms and their recent changes.
between the ages of 17 and 30 was able to have a Cavina woman an a
B I B L I O T " A ETNC ;! COCHMf
TABLE I
Changes in Kinship Terminology -t i i rA <5
A. Kin Terms for Individuals in the Same Moiety as Ego
Previously
Tadi - male parent
Mama - a male's older male sibling
Mamazao - a male's younger male sibling (commonly extended widely)
Dodo - a female's older female sibling
a male's female sibling
Edoe - a female's younger female sibling
Zana - a female's younger female sibling
Noo - a female's older male sibling
Nolipi - a female's younger male sibling
Nene - a person's male parent's female sibling
Onecua — a female's male sibling's female child
Ocua - a female's male sibling's male child
Presently
no change
no change
no change
now also sometimes for female parent within moiety.
no change
possibly replacing dodo as female's old er female sibling
seldom heard
no change
no change
little used - now ano, dodo or huadi
little used; often use - edoelipi, 1, todi
little used; often use - nolipi, todi
Doemetse — a person's
a) siblings of same sex
b) siblings of opposite sex
c) male parent's male sib's child of same sex
d) male parent's male sib's child of opposite sex
no change
e) all in the same moiety
•c i o r>*» ^ B» Kin Terms for Individuals in the Opposite Moiety of Ego
Previously
Huadi - a ) , a male or female's female parent
b)» widely extended by males to most any woman in opposite moiety and by females to older females in opposite moiety®.
Cuala - a), used by males to re-fer to most women in opposite moiety includ-ing mother and wife.
b). by females to refer to female parent or oJ.der females of opposite moiety,
Presently
Same as" a) and b) previously; now alsd for female parent within moiety.
Same as a)and b) previously; now also for female parent within moiety.
NOTE: ffuadi and cuala almost interchangeable but huadi primary focus probably more toward parent.
Boi (Boilimi) - Used by male to refer no change to wife from opposite moiety and to any female in opposite moiety who is or was an eligible marriage partner.
Jo.jo - Used by male to refer to any man in opposite moiety except mother's father and daughter's male child, and by female to refer to any male in the opposite moiety except her male child (todi) and her mother's father.
Ini (Inai) - Used (in addition to jojo) by females to refer to husband from opposite moiety and to any male in opposite moiety who is or waB an eligible marriage partner.
no change
seldom heard
Huahua - ah A person's a) female parent's female sibling
b) male parent's female sibling's female child
c) female sibling's female xk offspring.
Bacue - a female's male sib's
Babadi - a female's
Zacui — uncertain. possibly f for female
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female parent's female child
grown male child
Used by man >r eligible mate child.
no change
little used
very seldom used.
i v> C. Kin Terms for Individuals of Any Moiety
Previously
teutxxxx£rajdCBXzkz±&x&^pcKadtKx£mr
Anodi - male's female child within moiety* b) a female's female child
across moiety
Presently
Same as previously but now also
by females within moiety. (Figure I, section 2b)
Todi - a^ male's male child within moiety.
b) female's male child across moiety.
Otse - a person's child's child
Ano — a person's parent's female parent
Babashodi - a person's parent's male parent
Same as previously but now also by females within moiety.
(Figure I, section k b)
No change
No change
Some evidence to indicate this may once have been only within moiety, Those across moiety may be called .jobabashodi or babashodi .jo.jo.
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Most, if not all, of the above terms have a specific meaning and
extended meanings. In cases of uncertainty the specific meaning is
indicated by adding an emphatic particle 966ml Sometimes the endear-
ment? particle lipi serves a similar purpose. Relative age of kin is
oftein indicated by adding esi — o l d , or lipi —small.
Examples:
H» Tadicata - biological father
Extended areas - a) Father's brothers
b) Term of respect for a man
c) Term used for God - Tadicatapo
(real father - one)
2» Mamazao - may be extended to include all males in moiety..
3. Dodo - is extended to include
a) male's female parent's female sibling's female child
b) all females in moiety Doemetse - seems to have the most organized extensions or enlarging
circles.
A male's doemetse are:
doemetse cata — (a) (see definition p. 1) i.e. his brothers.
pona-po Cfemale) doemetse cata - (b) his sisters
pejopo (beside ones) doemetse (c), (d), and (e) others
5. Nop — extends to a female's female parent's female sib's, male offspring.
6. Anodi fr extended by older persons to most any female child.
7. Tod i - extended by older persons to most any male child.
Inferences Cited
A frmentia, Nicolas
1887 Navesacion del Madre de Dios: Viaje de P a d r e Armentia, Navegacion B o i i v i a m d ± G e o g r a f i a E Historxa, La Paz.
Metraux, Alfred TOhe Tr.ibe.oof Eastern Bolivia and the Madeira Headwaters. 1 9 4 5 ^ b ! n k f o f lout* American Indians, Julian Steward
editor, H I : . •
BIBLIOTECA ETfiCLOCICA COCHABAMBA - BOLIVIA
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