LEACOCK, Seth
- Economic Life of the Maué Indians. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, N. S., Antropologia n. 19, Belém do Pará 1964, 30 pp., 12 pranchas e 1 mapa fora do texto. Bibliografia.
O autor que esteve com êsses índios entre julho de 1956 e agôsto de 1957, dá uma excelente sinopse de suas atividades econômicas, frisando que êles "derive their subsistence primarily from agriculture and only secondarily from hunting and fishing…" (p. 14). "The activity of trading is not seen merely as a means of attaining necessary or even desirable merchandise, but is also treated as an exciting kind of game." (p. 17). A respeito das relações entre fatores econômicos e sociais observa que "much of the struture of Maué society is based on economic cooperation." (p. 23). Acha que a importância principal de seus dados sôbre os Maué é mostrarem êles "that changes in economic activities which follow involvement in trade may have a variety of effects on the social structure and need not be as disruptive as some of the changes described for other tribes." (p. 27). Cita destas outras tribos os Mundurukú do alto Tapajós e índios do alto rio Negro que sofreram tais efeitos disruptivos porque foram "deeply involved in rubber collecting", atividade essa que "is particularly disruptive because it is done most efficiently by individuais working separately…" (ibidem). Eis a conclusão final: "If the collecting is a type which is done most efficiently by individuals, as in rubber collecting, there may be a rapid breakdown of the social structure. But if the collecting is such that extended families or other groups can operate as units, then the effects may be minimal. This is especially true where the collecting activities do not interfere with the agricultural cycle, since the social structure is always based to some extent on patterns of agricultural work." (p. 29).
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