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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



growing old and is receiving less and less attention 

 from her husband as regards both food and sex, 

 she frequently displaces the aggression she feels 

 for him, but cannot express directly, to a younger 

 wife who is enjoying his favors at the moment. 

 Such outbursts of emotion sometimes culminate 

 in bitter fights, the women tearing up each other's 

 hammocks and striking each other with digging 

 sticks and spindles. An aging first wife generally 

 maintains her dominance in the family for a while, 

 but as her husband pays less and less attention to 

 her, she gradually resigns herself to a secondary 

 role in the household. She continues to cling to 

 her economic rights, however, as long as she 

 possibly can, and these are usually maintained 

 longer than her sexual dominance. 



A man generally takes no part in the fights that 

 break out between his wives; indeed he is usually 

 away on the hunt when they occur. Only if they 

 occur too frequently or become too violent does 

 the husband interfere. Under these conditions 

 he may threaten with divorce the wife standing 

 lower in his favor, in order to keep peace in the 

 family. 



While relations between husband and wife are 

 generally amicable, quarrels are of frequent 

 occurrence. They usually arise over questions of 

 food and sex. When a man has been out hunting 

 all day without eating and arrives home to find 

 that his wife has not prepared something for him 

 to eat, or if he has had ill luck in hunting and is 

 chided for this by his wife, a quarrel is apt to 

 arise. In situations of this kind it is the husband 

 who expresses the stronger aggression, and as a 

 rule other members of a family take no part in a 

 marital dispute. 



If a man is only mildly angry with his wife, his 

 feelings usually go no further than harsh words. 

 He may accuse her of being etomi (lazy) or ecirn- 

 bdsi (promiscuous), or threaten her with divorce. 

 If his anger rises to a higher pitch, he may rip a 

 string or two from her hammock or smash one of 

 her pots. If his anger becomes intense, he may 

 tear her hammock to shreds, chase her out of the 

 house with a firebrand, or even turn his anger 

 against himself and break his bow and arrows. 

 He never beats her, however. Following an 

 intense outburst of aggression, to which a woman 

 responds by crying and running into the bush, 

 a man usually leaves the portion of the dwelling 

 which he occupies with his wife and goes back to 



his relatives until amicable relations have again 

 been established. A man signifies his desire for 

 reconciliation by returning to the hearth of his wife. 



THE EXTENDED FAMILY 



Besides being a member of a nuclear family, 

 every Siriono also belongs to a larger kin group, 

 the matrilineal extended family. Such unilineal 

 kin groupings as moieties, clans, and sibs are not 

 found among the Siriono. Because of matrilocal 

 residence, groups of matrilineal relatives tend to 

 cluster together in the house and to form ex- 

 tended families. An extended family is made up 

 of all females in a direct line of descent, plus their 

 spouses and their unmarried children. 



The primary function of the extended family is 

 economic. While the nuclear family is the basic 

 economic unit, considerable cooperation in the 

 performance of duties also takes place within the 

 extended family. Such cooperation is often 

 heightened by the fact that brothers frequently 

 marry sisters and thus continue the cooperative 

 role they played in their family of orientation. 



The distribution of food rarely extends beyond 

 the extended family. Members of an extended 

 family cooperate to build that portion of the 

 dwelling which they occupy. They sometimes 

 plant gardens in common. A woman often 

 gathers food with her sisters or her mother, and 

 when brothers are members of the same extended 

 family they frequently hunt together. Some- 

 times the entire extended family leaves the band 

 for a while as a unit and goes on a hunting and 

 gathering expedition. 



The extended family is generally dominated by 

 the oldest active male. Although his power is not 

 supreme like that of the father in a nuclear family, 

 younger members of the extended family usually 

 pay heed to his words. The head of an extended 

 family, however, does not possess any title, such 

 as that of chief. 



THE BAND 



The local group or band is the largest social 

 group to which a Siriono belongs. In a certain 

 sense the band is also a kin group. Since bands 

 rarely have contact with one another and are thus 

 largely endogamous, it is possible for most band 

 members to trace their descent through one line 

 or another to every other band member. 



