Biblioteca Digital Curt Nimuendajú

Coleção Nicolai

The Kadiwéu are the only remaining group of the Mbayá, who, at the height of their expansion, dominated an area extending from Asunción, Paraguay, to Cuiabá in Mato Grosso and from the Chiriguaná settlements in the west to the banks of the Paraná. They did not actually control this area, but raided through it, capturing resident natives as well as Spaniards and Portuguese for slaves. They considered themselves to have a divine right to make war upon, enslave and demand tribute from all other peoples. Nonagriculturalists themselves, they demanded tribute from surrounding agricultural groups. Only recently have they been forced to perform some farming which supplements the hunting and gathering pattern attributed to them since the earliest reports. The Mbayá had slaves at the time of first contact. There is no reason to assume that the highly stratified nature of their society was due to the adoption of the horse, although their warlike activities were greatly aided by the introduction of this animal. There is as yet no proper ethnohistorical study of this fascinating group, but considerable background material on their history may be found in D. Ribeiro (1950), Oberg (1949) and Métraux (1946).

Ribeiro 's work on the religion and mythology of this group (1950) is basic to any further study. The present article includes a description of the mechanism by which slaves were incorporated into Kadiwéu society. Such incorporation was necessary to maintain the population. It is obvious that, in spite of the sad straits in which this group now exists, they still retain much of the spirit that characterized them when they were truly the lords of all they surveyed.

Although Darcy Ribeiro is probably best known to American anthropologists for his works on Indian policy and problems of contact between Indians and the outside world, he has a record of excellent and penetrating publications in "pure" anthropology. It is only on the basis of such scientific and disinterested observation and study that one may build a proper basis for deciding matters of application and policy. Darcy Ribeiro 's stature in these latter areas is firmly grounded in his profound knowledge of the people for whom he speaks.

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