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Machiguenga [archive]
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Machiguenga
Language: The Machiguenga tribe are from the group of Arawakan-speakers who reside in the western Peruvian Amazon.
From the Peruvian Andes to the top of the Urubamba River and the Madre de Dios River in southern Peru. The Machiguenga speak
two languages, ​​Machiguenga and Nomatsigenga.
Subsistence: The Machiguengas are nomadic people, who live from tropical agriculture. Like other tribes in the Amazon,
they migrate according to the cycle of the year, temporarily building houses in small towns and moving with the passage of time and
the changes of seasons to find their food.
The crops of the Machiguenga are generally bananas, potatoes, yucca, cotton and sweet potato. The staple foods in their diet are fruits
and fish. The Machiguengas are very well adapted to their environment. The greatest aspect of their adaptation is the achievement of the
adaptation of their food to their environment; as a source of survival in its resources. They keep the production of their food at a
low cost with a healthy diet by which they maintain a health suitable for the environment in which they live.
Beliefs and Communities: The communities of the Machiguengas are approximately in groups of 300 people per village.
Each Machiguenga family provides itself with the basics like food, shelter and clothing.
Their political organization is the reflection of their adaptation to their life environment.
The Machiguengas do not follow an organized way of life with a leader. They are peaceful people.
The work is divided according to gender. Marriage is a relationship between people or individuals. The marriage of the Machiguengas is not exactly an alliance, which means that marriage does not play an important role in their political society and does not require complex negotiation within the Machiguenga society.
Life after death: Death has great meaning to the Machiguengas. They believe the spirit after death is free and later is captured
by a living person. The bodies are buried with the feet down so that the spirit cannot come and lift them.
The houses of the families are marked with an epitaph of death. The religion of the Machiguengas is based on myths and
legends. Religion is based on the environment of experience and the need to maintain a lifestyle according to its environment.
The culture and religion over time have been changed by the religious missionaries who have entered as a way of evangelizing,
the language and some customs have been transformed over time. Some members of the tribes have converted to Christianity and
have adapted the Bible into their religion.
Sources
Ensminger ,Jean and Society for Economic Anthropology (U.S.) 2002 Theory in economic anthropology. Altamira: Rowman.
Applebaum, Herbert A. 1984 Work in non-market and transitional societies. NY: SUNY Press.
Additional Reading
Machiguenga Tribe
Arawaks
Amazonian Tribes
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