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

5

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

9

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.

10

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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