A Note on the Northern Ge Tribes of Brazil

Abstract

A NOTE ON THE NORTHERN G~ TRIBES OF BRAZIL By ROBERT H. LOWIE HE Ge stock is commonly conceived to comprise nomadic hunters ig­ norant of weaving, pottery, hammocks, and canoes, and in general ap­ proximating the Fuegian level. This view was appreciably modified by Ploetz and Metraux's joint survey of the sources on the Southern and East­ . ern Ge. 1 The Ge appeared as a questionable linguistic family, and even the two branches discussed proved to be definitely not a cultural unit. Specifi­ cally, pottery-making farmers, like the Kamakan, could be separated from such nomadic hunters as the Botocudo and Aweikoma (= Botocudo of Santa Catharina ). The field researches of Sur. Curt Nimuendaju, eked out by his critical sifting of the earlier sources, further clarify the picture with reference to the Northern and Central Ge. The following summary statements rest on his recent publications 2 and the ample manuscripts and reports embodying the results of his inquiries (1935-1938) on behalf of the Institute of Social Sci­ ences of the University of California. The tribes specially studied were the Ramk6kamekra (Canella), Apinaye and Serente. Of these the first two are classed as the Eastern and Western Timbira, respectively, but the Apinaye also show considerable affinity with the Kayap6. The Serente at one time formed a single group with the Sa­ vante, the schism being purely political; both are the surviving representa­ tives of the Akwe division of the Central Ge. The Timbira, the Northern Kayap6, the Southern Kayap6 (a distinct group), and the Suya may be set off as Northern and Western Ge, from the Central Ge, who comprise the Akwi and the Akroa. In this instance the geographical coincides with the linguistic grouping. The traditional antithesis of Ge (=Tapuya) versus Tupf-Guaranf distorts the facts of East Brazilian ethnography. In reality the area was in­ habited by a series of tribes representing isolated stocks, such as the Gamel­ la of Maranhao, the Fulnio north of the lower San Francisco, and the Otshukayana of Rio Grande do Norte. The present paper does not attempt to sketch the entire culture of the 1 Herman Ploetz et A. Metraux, La civilisation maMrielle et la vie sociale et religieuse des indiens 1e du Bresil meridional et oriental (Revista del Instituto de Etnologia de la Universidad Nacional de Tucuman, tomo 1, Tucuman, 1930), pp. 107-238. J Curt Nimuendaju and Robert H. Lowie, The Dual Organizations of the RamkOkamekra (Candia) of Northern Brazil (American Anthropologist, vol. 39: 1937) pp. 565-582. C. Nimuendaju, The Social Structure of the Ramk6kamekra (Canella) , (ibid., vol. 40: pp. 51­ 74, 1938. id., The Gamella Indians (Primitive Man, vol. 10, July-OCtober, 1937), pp. 1-10. T