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Social Norms Among the Bakairi of Brazil
| Article
# : |
18259 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1990 |
3,929 Words |
| Author
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Debra Picchi
Debra Picchi is associate professor of anthropology at
Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire. The
fieldwork on which this article was based took place between
1979 and 1981, with a follow-up study completed in the fall
of
1989. Preliminary ideas for the work were developed in a
paper given at the Lowland South American Symposium at the
American Anthropological Association meetings held in
Washington, D.C., in 1989. Her most recent
publication, "Yare's Anger: Conformity and Rage in the
Field,"
appeared in the Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly. |
South American Indian cultures differ in important ways from Western cultures. One way they vary concerns the nature of their social norms; another difference pertains to what happens to violators of such rules.
This article examines the behavioral standards that regulate a Brazilian Indian society. A written code of conduct and a formal legal system are absent, so other agents communicate guidelines for behavior. It also investigates the manner in which individuals and groups retaliate when norms are disregarded. The process whereby people identify a violation and reach a verdict on what to do about the transgression is illustrated by a case study. This example describes the importance of reliance on informal resolutions of conflict and punishment of violators, relating this tendency to such key characteristics of Indian villages as small size, egalitarianism, and the presence of powerful kin groups.
The work draws on materials gathered during research with the Bakairi Indians of Mato Grosso, Brazil. These Indians live in settlements of about one hundred people each on a reservation administered by Indian Foundation agents. They have been in sporadic contact with non-Indians since the 1920s, and although interaction with Western people has altered their culture, they still retain a significant number of their traditions. For example, they continue to speak Bakairi and celebrate their own rituals, such as the mask and capa dances. Additionally, they live in wattle and daub huts with palm-thatch roofs and make a living in the traditional manner by cultivating gardens in the forests along the rivers.
Teaching Bakairi norms
Socialization of Bakairi children is primarily the responsibility of parents and other members of, or visitors to, the extended household. Mothers' sisters and parents in particular enjoy the right to teach and discipline children. However, all elders have some responsibility in this area, and, to a certain extent, the villagers also share in this obligation.
Sometimes village participation consists of providing a necessary audience. For example, a child dawdled on his way back from the river, where he had gone to help his mother wash clothes and collect water. The mother became increasingly annoyed with his slow pace because children are expected to do assigned chores with alacrity. First she nagged at the boy, then she berated him, and finally she took a switch and began to swat his legs with it. He ran
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