Kinship with Monkeys: The Guajá Foragers of Eastern Amazonia

Loretta Cormier

Published by Columbia University Press 2003

Kinship with Monkeys

The Guajá Foragers of Eastern Amazonia

Loretta Cormier

In the series Historical Ecology Series

https://doi.org/10.7312/corm12524

Overview
Contents

About this book

How can monkeys be both eaten as food and nurtured as children? Her research reveals that monkeys play a vital role in Guajá society, ecology, economy, and religion. In Guajá animistic beliefs, all forms of plant and animal life—especially monkeys—have souls and are woven into a comprehensive kinship system.

Intrigued by a slide showing a woman breast-feeding a monkey, anthropologist Loretta A. Cormier spent fifteen months living among the Guajá, a foraging people in a remote area of Brazil. The result is this ethnographic study of the extraordinary relationship between the Guajá Indians and monkeys. While monkeys are a key food source for the Guajá, certain pet monkeys have a quasi-human status. Some infant monkeys are adopted and nurtured as human children while others are consumed in accordance with the "symbolic cannibalism" of their belief system.

The apparent contradiction of this predator/protector relationship became the central theme of Cormier's research: How can monkeys be both eaten as food and nurtured as children? Her research reveals that monkeys play a vital role in Guajá society, ecology, economy, and religion. In Guajá animistic beliefs, all forms of plant and animal life—especially monkeys—have souls and are woven into a comprehensive kinship system. Therefore, all consumption can be considered a form of cannibalism.

Cormier sets the stage for this enlightening study by examining the history of the Guajá and the ecological relationships between human and nonhuman primates in Amazonia. She also addresses the importance of monkeys in Guajá ecological adaptation as well as their role in the Guajá kinship system. Cormier then looks at animism and life classification among the Guajá and the role of pets, which provide a context for understanding "symbolic cannibalism" and how the Guajá relate to various forms of life in their natural and supernatural world. The book concludes with a discussion of the implications of ethnoprimatology beyond Amazonia, including Western perceptions of primates.

Author / Editor information

Loretta A. Cormier is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

Reviews

W.C. McGrew:
The best example yet of an emerging field called ethnoprimatology... Cormier deserves high praise.

Cormier presents a readable and enjoyable account of the Guajá and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of various primate species.

Eckhard W. Heymann:
very interesting reading...the principal beneficiaries of this book will be social and cultural anthropologists and ethnologists

Carlotta Maggio & Elisabetta Visalberghi:
This book is an enchanting introduction to the world of anthropology for students and enthusiasts alike.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Notes on Orthography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
1. A Brief History of the Guajá Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. A Brief History of New World Monkeys Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
3. Monkey Hunting Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
4. Guajá Kinship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
5. Animism and the Forest Siblings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
6. Pet Monkeys Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
7. Cosmology and Symbolic Cannibalism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
Conclusion. Ethnoprimatology in Amazonia and Beyond Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Appendix. Monkeys in the Guajá Habitat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 288
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 10
- Other: 10 illus

eBook

Published: October 15, 2003
ISBN: 9780231516327