Reciprocity and Hierarchy Claude Levi-Strauss American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 46, N 266-268. Part 1 (Apr. -Jun., 1944), Stable URL htp:/Mlinks jstor.org/ sic ?sici=0002-7294% 28 194404% 2F06%292%3A46%3 A2%3C266% 3AR AH%3E2.0,CO%3B2-1 American Anthropologist is currently published by American Anthropological Association. ‘Your use of the ISTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use, available at hup:/www,jstororglabout/terms.hml. ISTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use ofthis work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www jstor.org/jounals/anthro. html Each copy of any part of @ JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the sereen or printed page of such transmission. For more information on JSTOR contact [email protected], ©2003 JSTOR hupswww jstor.org/ ‘Tue Dec 16 16:49:06 2003266, AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 5, 46, 1944 ‘watch him day and night, and never to open the door of her hut lest he should escape. So she sat day and night, holding her son in her arms. The other Indians wondered why India never came out of her hut to dance, as before. Through a crack in the door they could see a shining light. They knocked and said, “Come out, India.” But she would not open the door. Then they planned to catch her through her great love of dancing. They came with futes and played before her hut. But she would not open the door. Finally they played the most beautiful dance tune of all (a tune that is known by name and played today). India laid her son on the floor and opened the door. Immediately a strong light rushed out of the door and up into the sky. Her son had become the sun. India in desperation flew up after the light, and became the moon, which is always running after the sun, but never catches him. Enzanern Kxowrr0n New Your, N. Y. RECIPROCITY AND HIERARCHY ‘The 89th volume (March-April, 1943) of the excellent Brazilian review “Revista do Arquivo Municipal de Sao Paulo” contains new and important information on the structure of the dual system of the Bororo, which I wish to discuss briefy. for- mation appears in an artile, O exorcism da éaca, do prize e das frutas entre os Bororo, by Senhor Manuel Cruz. Senhor Cruz is not an anthropologist, but, as a resident for ‘many years of Lageado and the surrounding region, he may be considered as one of our ‘most reliable informants on Bororo life and customs. Senhor Cruz's account of the food ritual of the Bororo does not add much to what ‘we already knew from Frit and from Colbaechini but it throws a new light on some specifi features of the moiety system. Senhor Cruz tells that the Bororo shaman (bari) ‘offers food to the evil spirits (maeréboe) on behalf of the sprit’ son, if the food was, Drought by a member of the Tugore moiety; and on behalf of the spirit’ son-in-law (or grandson, since the kinship term auaguédu (Colbacchini woguede) means both), if the food was brought by a member of the Cera moiety. He points out, however, that “the Ceroe are treated as sons by the bari and the Tugoregue as son-in-law” (a. 1, p- 158). Thus the bari stands in the relation opposite to the members of both moieties to that of the maerébve. Senhor Cruz does not comment on this fact, which ean be only explained if the bari himself stands to the maerébve in the relation of son to father. This interpretation is confirmed by Colbacchiai who, in his own description of, the food ritual, says that the bari calls the bepe (the alternate name of the meréboe) 4 ogo, “my father.”* In both cases then, the bari would belong to the Tugare moiety. ‘Now this is explicitly denied by Colbachini who says in another chapter: "A bori exeraeddo, when addressing the Sun, who is exeroedo, will say i eddoga, ‘my grand- father,’ while a tugoregueddo will say i ogwo, ‘my father’.”* He adds elsewhere: “Any ‘man... may become a bari." On the other hand, the equivalence of the sun and of the maeréboe, i.e. the souls of the dead Bair, seems a well established fact: “they are + V, Frit and P. Radin, Contributions tothe Study ofthe BororoTndions (Journal ofthe Royal ‘Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3, 1906). P. A. Colbacchini P.C. Albisetti, Os Boros Oriewai (Sto Paulo 1942). * Colbachini, le. ct, p. 126. Loe. city pe AB." # Lacs city pHBRIEF COMMUNICATIONS 261 the baire themselves (or else macréboe) who, carrying an incandescent piece of metal ‘on their head (aro-meriurugo) use it to heat men by looking down to the earth.”* Thus ‘we have several corroborating evidences: the sun is Cera, the moeréboe is Cera, the bari calls the maeréboe “father,” and the moerfboe and the bari stand accordingly in the ‘opposite relationships of “father” and “(grand-father” (or father-in-law”) towards the members of one and the other moieties respectively. Against these evidences there is the only discordant statement of Colbachini that a bari may be either Cera or Tugare. If the latter is true, the whole picture becomes unintelligible (at least on the basis of the available information): for the bope, ie, the souls of the dead boire collectively designated as maeréboe, should belong to the two moieties, and then what of the sun and of the moon who, as we know, are the maeréboe themselves, while un- doubtedly belonging to the Cra moiety?" If on the contrary, the baire were always ‘wgaregue the whole system of appellations would become much clearer. ‘The interesting article of Senhor Cruz calls for another comment. From what we know of the moiety system of the Bororo it is clear that the moieties are bound to exchange reciprocal services in feasts, funerals, initiation xituals, etc. But at the same time, as i occurs in Assam? and elsewhere, there is a definite relation of subordination between the moieties: the Cerae, to whom the two chiefs of the Bororo village always belong, and who possess the best omaments, are “superior” to the Tugorepue. Col Dacchin’s informant emphatically denied that the usual meaning of those words: “strong,” and “weak,” could be attached to the names of the moieties." On the con trary, the Bororo ofthe Rio Vermelho were postive ofthe fact that Cera meant “weak” ‘when I visited them in 1936.? This fits well with the “unequal” names of the moieties among other South American tribes: “Younger” and “Elder” among the Tupi- Kawahib, “Good” and “Bad” among the Tereno, etc. .. . Among the Bororo, how- ‘ever, an apparent contradiction results from the fact that the “Superior” moiety would be at the same time the “Weak,” and the “Inferior” the “Strong.” This can perhaps beexplained through the use of the kinship terms reported by Cruz and by Colbacchini: if an exogamous moiety claims as its own the cultural heroes and the supernatural beings of the tribe, and thus conquers a political and cultural supremacy over the other moiety, it results immediately, in a matrilineal system where patrilineal filiation follows the pattern of altemate generations, that the members of this moiety will become removed from their male ancestors one degree farther than the members of the opposite moiety. If the Sun and the Moon, and the heroes Bakororo and Iubore, belong to the Cera moiety, they can only be the “grandfathers” of the Ceroe men, ‘while becoming the “fathers” of the dethroned Tugarcgue. These, in turn, become the “elders” of the ruling Cerae. A pethaps one-sided analysis of the dual organization hhas too often put the emphasis on the principle of reciprocity as its main cause and result, It is well to remember that the moiety system can express, not only mecha- nisms of reciprocity but also relations of subordination. But, even in these relations "Loe, city p97. * Loe. ity pp. 196-197 1J-K. Bose, Social Organization ofthe Aimol Kis, and Dual Organization in Assom (Journal ofthe Department of Letters, Unversity of Caletts, vol. 25,1934). * Colbacchini, lc. ct, p. 30. 9. Lévi-Strauss, Contribution & Patude de Torganiation sociale des Indiens Bororo (Journal de la Societe des Americanates de Paris, 2, 1936)268 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST es, 46, 1944 of subordination, the principle of reciprocity is at work; for the subordination itself is reciprocal: the priority which is gained by one moiety on one level is lost to the op- posite moiety on the other. Political primacy has to be paid at the price of a subordi- nate place in the system of generations. tis possible that the system of multiple pairs of moieties, cross-cutting one another, typical of the dual organization in South America (and not at all comparable to the ‘Australian systems, since in the first ones never more than one pair of moieties act as ‘marriage classes) should be explained as an attempt to surmount the contradiction resulting from these opposite consequences. There are numerous indications that the present relations between the Cera and Tugare moieties of the Bororo are not very ancient. Whatever it may be, itis not this system, but the secondary patter of the “Upstream” and “Downstream” moieties of the Sao Lourenco," probably correspond~ ing to something similar on the Rio das Garcas;# which seems to have the more numerous equivalents inside and outside the cultural area:I mean the many “Upper’— and—"Lower” systems connected with Bast and West, which, among the Bororo, cor- respond the more closely to the metaphysical ideas, and of which new evidences have just been brought to light by Lowie. Therein should be sought the core of dual organization in South America Ciaupe Lévr-Sreauss [New Sewoor rox Socrat Resxanctt ‘TWO GAMES FROM AFRICA For the past three years I have been collecting material for a comparative study of the guessing: game “How Many Horns Has the Buck?,” which is the “Bucea Bucca”” ‘mentioned by Petronius.* During this period I have carried on an extensive correspond cence with folklorists, archivists, collectors, and other interested persons in all the European countries with the exception of Rumania and Lithuania, with folklorists land other scholars in Japan and China, in Australia.and New Zealand, in South and Central America, and with missionaries in all parts of Africa, As was to be expected, many of these correspondents were unable to find any versions of “How Many Hors?” still current in their respective countries, and frequently they tried to make amends by sending me texts and descriptions of other games, sometimes analogues and some- times games of an entirely different type. Two of these I present here. Both of these games were contributed by Rev. Lyndon Harries, of the Universities’ ‘Mission to Central Africa, Newala, Lindi, T. The fist is a game played by Makua children, who call it Kikote nno, filye nno (“Let me refuse here—let me eat here”) Colbacchini, oe. et pp. 30,136 NC, Lévi Straus, le * Colbaccini, lo. et, pp. 31,36, 98. RL HL Lowe, d Notoon the Sota Lifeof the Northern Koyapt(Antenscax Axrunorox0cisr, 4, vol 45, 1943). 1 Thave already pubiahed two short papers on the subject: A Romom Game ond Tis Sureial on Four Continents (Clatsicl Philology, XXXVI, 2), 134-137; and The ‘Kite ande bal Gome of ‘dia Southern FolHore Quarterly, VIL, 3), 189-182, A third and longer article 40 pp.) wil appear inthe next aumber of Belodess, journal ofthe Trish Folklore Commission.