Introduction.

Abstract

This is a summary of 7 papers given at a South American Indian Conference. The papers varied by the training and interests of the authors, but the unifying characteristics were their attention to the quality of data, the concern with placing the Lowland South American Indian societies in historical time, and the focus on the individual in a social context. The trend for tribal societies to abandon traditional practices of birth limitation is worrisome at a time when the balance between population growth and economic resources has deteriorated. Survival risks are high. The traditional societies range over a region stretching from Guyana to Mato Grosso, and have varying degrees of economic and political autonomy. All have been exposed to Western influences. A four-generation account of Barama River Caribs family in Guyana illustrates how marriage choices that appear anomalous were responses to changing demographic pressures. The problems of the definition of a population were revealed in the paper on the Wanano of the Rio Vaupes in Northwest Amazon; the aim was to examine Boas' ideas about the links between language, race, and culture in a region of culturally mixed marriages. High-quality reproductive history data was collected and examined on the Xavante in Pimentel Barbosa in eastern Mato Grosso. The study of household and settlement composition, marriage, fertility, and mortality data among the Bakairi, located west of Shavante, in Mat Grosso, suggests that population increases were kept small due to fertility-inhibiting cultural practices. The combination of detailed examination of cultural practices and statistical analysis provided insights into the demographic behavior of the Canela in central Maranhao, who have had longstanding contact with the West and maintained traditional practices. The difficulties of collecting birth and death records between 1976-86 among the Nambiquara in western Maso Grosso were expressed, and the anomalies of female mortality explained. Statistical analysis of the Shipibo of the Ucayali River Basin in Peru demonstrated that growth was attributed to the abandonment of traditional practices.