Cross-sectional growth of young Shipibo Indian children in eastern Peru

This paper reports measurements of weight and recumbent length for a cross-sectional sample of 149 Shipibo infants and children between birth and 35.99 months of age from eight villages in the Peruvian Amazon Basin. The Shipibo are an Amerindian population experiencing a period of local environmental disruption and rapid cultural change. Compared with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) references values, Shipibo children are smaller and shorter than American children. The differences are least at birth. Deficits in linear growth begin between 3 and 6 months of age and continue through 35.99 months of age. Weight-for-length ratios are generally adequate compared to the NCHS values in all age groups. This pattern of growth is similar to that reported for non-Amerindians in many developing countries and is assumed to represent a pattern of growth under mild-to-moderate undernutrition. High infant mortality rates suggest that an interaction of suboptimal nutrition and infectious diseases is contributing to the pattern of growth retardation seen; however, genetic differences cannot yet be discounted.     

Covariates of Private Time Preference: A Pilot Study Among the Tsimane' Indians of the Bolivian Rain Forest

A pilot study with 257 adult (16+ years) Tsimane' Indians, a group of horticulturalists and foragers, in the Bolivian rain forest was done to test hypotheses about the socioeconomic and demographic covariates of time preference. Subjects were asked to make a choice between receiving one candy now or two candies at the end of an interview that lasted 1.5 to 2 h. Results of a multivariate probit regression suggest that education was associated with greater desire for immediate gratification and illness was associated with greater likelihood of willingness to wait. Age, sex, nutritional status, income, and wealth played a weak role in willingness to delay gratification.     

Contraceptive Charms Among the Plains Indians

Abstract

Although Clark Wissler and Sister M. Inez Hilger have recorded the use of contraceptive charms by the Blackfoot and Arapaho, the Piegan specimen illustrated here may be unique to museum collections. Indications that use of these charms survived into the middle years of the present century suggest the possibility of obtaining more detailed information about their use among other tribes of Plains Indians through field work.     

Cultural Factors in Crime Among the Dakota Indians

Abstract

In spite of the breakdown of traditional Dakota social systems, especially the kinship structuring related to criminality, the modern pattern and rate of Dakota crime appears to reflect old norms of behavior. The comparatively low crime rate against property and the high rate against per sons is particularly suggestive of the traditional pattern operating in a modern context.     

A Dog's Life Among the Teenek Indians (Mexico): Animals' Participation in the Classification of Self and Other

The Teenek (or Huastec) Indians in Mexico's Northeast maintain an ambivalent relationship with their dogs. On the one hand, these dogs, famished and mangy, are constantly targeted for blows and other forms of torment. On the other hand, according to indigenous cosmology, a person should treat his or her dog well, since after death it is the dog that will guide the dead to the afterworld. A contradiction seems to exist between these two opposite positions. However, an examination of the names given by the Teenek to their dogs and the language used to address them could provide a solution to this apparent riddle. Furthermore, the analysis may well reveal a classification system of Self and Other, uncovering a subtle indigenous process for the preservation of the memory of an autochthonous tradition.     

The Function of Ceremonial Sexual Intercourse Among the Northern Plains Indians

Abstract

Sexual intimacy as a means of transferring spiritual power appears to have been a Mandan-Hidatsa ceremonial trait borrowed by three Algonkian Plains tribes as part of the graded men’s societies complex. The Algonkian tribes modified the rite, which in the village tribes emphasized the role of father’s clan. The Arapaho emphasized the cosmic symbolism of the rite, the Atsina made it a test of self-discipline, and the Blackfoot stressed the dangerous power commanded by those who performed it. These modifications parallel the differences in kinship structure between village and nomadic Plains tribes discussed by Eggan.