Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

Riviere identifies cognatic descent, two-line prescriptive relationship terminology,
preference for either settlement endogamy and/or uxorilocal residence, the
importance of co-residence as a factor in ordering relationships, and the small size
and short duration of settlements as the key common features (Riviere 1984: 4).
Butt-Colson's emphasis is on the ideal of cross-cousin marriage and matrilocality, the
outcome of which is a paradigmatic extended family based around a 3-generation line
of female consanguines with both vertical and horizontal kinship relationships who,
although not forming a corporate group in the strict sense of the word, act as an
informal collaborative matriline about which men circulate. This model is accepted as
being representative of Guianese indigenous societies, and comprises a suite of
features found widely throughout Amazonia (Viveiros de Castro 1996: 188).
Results obtained in the present study showed that owing to the intervention of
missionaries, cross-cousin marriage, although a historical convention, is nowadays
very rare in practice. No clear pattern of post-marital settlement was evident, and I
found no clear indication of any historical convention. Settlements is nowadays more
concentrated and permanent, another outcome of missionary activities, since
consolidated by the provision of government infrastructure at the centre of nucleated
settlements (see chapter 3.2.4).
Wapishana settlement in Guyana is spread over a wide area of the savannah-
forest ecotone in the South Rupununi savannahs (chapter 3.2.3). Both savannah and
forest habitats are crucial for subsistence, which is based around long-fallow swidden
agriculture. Fishing, hunting, rearing domestic livestock, gathering animal and plant
foods, and the cultivation of fruit trees and keeping of house gardens on the
savannah are all important aspects of subsistence (chapter 4). Economically, former
sources of income generation in the trade in wild animals and ‘balata’ (dried latex of
the tree Manilkara bidentata) have, respectively, declined and disappeared. A few
people have employment in the ranching industry, in general income-generating
opportunities are very scarce and the vast majority of people are concerned
overwhelmingly with subsistence pursuits (chapter 3.2.4).
1.4 Methods
The study employed a variety of methods in collecting data on the various subjects
of interest. The majority of data, and that of greatest importance, was recorded in
interviews. Observation and to a lesser extent participation were also important, and
GPS equipment was employed in mapping land use.