Yanomamo - Kinship

Molly Scott, Francesca Di Marco, and Audrey Devictor.

Content

1. Rights Of Passage2. Marriage3. Polygyny4. Sexuality5. Events6. Taboos7. Social Links

8. Rules of Descent9. Child/Adult10. Family Organisation11.Male/ Female

Rights Of Passage

Girls:• Menstruation• Isolation Screens• Only significance is to

determine the time of marriage.

Boys:• No ritual or specific

point.• Respect – not called

by ones name. • Uncle/Father

MarriageMen:

Paternal aunts daughterMaternal uncles daughter

Paternal uncles daughterMaternal aunts daughter

Women:

Paternal aunts sonMaternal uncles son

Paternal uncles sonMaternal aunts son

Polygyny

• Social status• Demographic imbalances• Female infanticide.• Men marry later than women do.

Sexuality

• Not repressed or hidden• Women are forbidden • Accepting of sexual relations between kin.• Women are expected to have intercourse with

their husband whenever he demands.• Adultery STRICLTY FORBIDDEN

Events and Ceremonies

• Important part of Yanomamo culture• No women at event – Preparation.• Food, Alcohol, Drugs.• Endocannibalism.• No ceremony for marriage.

Taboos

• Incest – patriarchal society.

• Cannibalism – in spite of endocannibalism

Social links

• Allied with surrounding villages – marriage.

• Trade – Teaching – Arranged marriage.

• First Moiety, then village, then the next band out which would be close by villages are marriage allies, followed by feasting allies, trading allies and lastly enemies.

Rules of Descent

Patriarchal - Patrilineal

Child/Adult division

• Mother raises children – Boys > Girls.• Boys are encouraged to be fierce and

violent.• Girls must learn and work, boys are

free to play.• Children are more vulnerable – souls

are not firm

Reproduction/ Family Organisation

• Nuclear family by age.• Fathers die, Boys become “boss”• Marriages are arranged by a father or elder

male kin.• Villages range from 40 – 300.• Adults < Children.

Male / Female division

• Girls have chores as children and act as a second mother.• Girls marry younger than men, and have very little choice in

who they marry.• Their lives change very little when married• Women are 100% under the control and command of their

husband, they are often beaten, this is often considered as a sign of affection. (Protected by brothers).

• Women are respected much more when they are older.• Women offer deliver messages an recover bodies.• Stranger villages abduct, rape and keep women.

Any Questions?