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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



child. Actually this is not the case. As we have 

 already pointed out, the term ydnde is used to 

 designate a potential spouse. What confused the 

 padre and led him to mistake a potential spouse 

 for a godparent is doubtless the following fact. 

 In the ceremonies following childbirth, potential 

 spouses of the mother — those who have had sex 

 relations with her — are frequently decorated with 

 feathers and undergo the rites of couvade like the 

 parents themselves. This is logical enough in 

 view of the fact that the Siriono recognize a very 

 close relationship between parent and child and 

 that one of the woman's potential husbands may, 

 after all, have been responsible for the pregnancy. 

 Moreover, if anything should happen to the 

 parents of the child, those relatives who stand in a 

 ydnde relationship, i.e., those relatives who are 

 potential spouses of the parents, are responsible 

 for its upbringing and its care. In view of the 

 circumstances, namely, that people of the opposite 

 sex who stand in the ydnde relationship have sex 

 relations with one another, they can hardly be 

 regarded as godparents in the usual sense of the 

 term. 



SOCIAL STKATIFICATION 



Beyond the stratifications of sex and age, 

 Siriono society is little difl'erentiated as to status. 

 A form of chieftainship does exist, but the pre- 

 rogatives of this ofBce are few. Such status 

 divisions as castes, social classes, and specialized 

 occupations are quite unknown. 



Apart from age and sex, such status differences 

 as do exist depend primarily upon how the duties 

 of everyday life are performed. If a man is a good 

 hunter, his status is apt to be high; if he is a poor 

 provider, it is apt to be low. His status as a 

 hunter, moreover, is enhanced considerably by 

 his being a virile sex partner; having several 

 wives is a mark of distinction. A woman's status, 

 too, depends not only on her being active in the 

 economic pursuits of the family but on her being 

 a good childbeai'er as well. A childless woman 

 stands at the bottom of the status hierarchy 

 within the family. 



Little status is gained through genealogy. 

 Within the band, those people who are most 

 closely related to the chief probably enjoy the 

 greatest number of privileges, but I was unable to 

 confirm this as an outstanding feature of Siriono 

 society. It is probably true, to be sure, that the 



brother of a chief enjoys more privileges than a 

 distantly related cousin. But in a society like the 

 Siriono, where the food supply is both scarce 

 and insecure, a person's status necessarily depends 

 more on his ability as a provider of food than on 

 any other single factor. This was clearly brought 

 home to me time and time again while I was 

 at Tibaera. 



One case deserves special mention. Enla (Knee) 

 was the brother-in-law of Chief Eantandu. He 

 had had some contact with the outside, but 

 because of maltreatment had run away from his 

 patron and returned to native life. He was an 

 intelligent man with an unusual ability (for a 

 Siriono) to adjust to white civilization. He was 

 a hard worker and reliable, and he knew consider- 

 able Spanish. His one weakness was that he 

 could not hunt as well as his countrymen. Time 

 after time I saw him leave with his bow and 

 arrows, and time after time I watched him return 

 empty-handed, while his fellow tribesmen left 

 after him on the same trail and returned with 

 game. He was generally referred to as "not 

 knowing how to hunt." He was openly insulted 

 at drinking feasts for his inability to hunt. He 

 had lost at least one wife to better men. His 

 status was low; his anxiety about hunting, high. 

 He had, however, made some kind of readjustment 

 to native life by planting more crops and collecting 

 more forest products than the others and trading 

 some of his vegetable products for meat. But 

 still he was not satisfied. Noting this condition, I 

 set out to raise his status. First he accompanied 

 me with his bow and arrows on hunting trips. He 

 carried in game which I shot, part of which was 

 given to him and which we told others was shot 

 by him. His status began to improve. Shortly 

 thereafter I taught him to use a shotgun, and he 

 brought in game of his own. Needless to say, when 

 I left Tibaera he was enjoying the highest status, 

 had acquired several new sex partners, and was 

 insulting others, instead of being insulted by them. 



Several wives and numerous children are the 

 principal status marks of a man. Similarly, to be 

 married to a man who is a good hunter and to 

 have several children are the most important 

 status marks of a woman. Plural wives not only 

 mark a man as a good hunter but as a virile sex 

 partner as well. Men boast a great deal about 

 their sexual prowess, as well as their hunting 

 prowess, and in cases where they are married to 



