8 - Conclusion

Summary

In the last chapter, material extracted from all the previous chapters was used to elucidate the basic concepts of space–time. Two sets of associations were made: cumulative horizontal space–time and upstream cosmic cycles were associated with the development of patrilineal descent groups; reversible horizontal space–time and down-stream cycles were associated with the passage of women's reproductive powers between patrilineal descent groups. The relationship between these conclusions and the discussion of the reproduction of the local group (at the end of chapter 2) is clear, but in order to get from the one to the other the reader has to go through the system of specialist roles, certain aspects of kinship and marriage, the life-cycle and the system of production and consumption. One function of this detour was to provide the material from which the analogous systems in the final chapter were built, but other points were made on the way. In conclusion, I restate some of these points in a more general form than that in which they appeared earlier, and also relate them to a broader view of Pirá-paraná society, which I would like to develop and state more clearly in the future.

To do this, let me briefly summarise Pirá-paraná social structure. Descent is patrilineal, residence is patrilocal and marriage is virilocal. Exogamy is a corollary of descent, for at all levels common descent precludes marriage. The internal structure of descent groups is hierarchical.