Munduruku
Encyclopedia
The Munduruku are an indigenous people of Brazil living in the Amazon River
basin. Some Mundurucu communities are part of the Coatá-Laranjal Indigenous Land. They had an estimated population in 2010 of 11,640.
. After 1803 they lived at peace with the Brazil
ians.
Today the tribe faces threats to their homelands from hydroelectric projects, illegal gold-panning, and a new waterway construction on the Tapajós River.
says the name "Muduruku" comes from their enemies the Parintintin people and means "red ants," based on the historical Munduruku tactic of attacking en masse.
They are also notable for their linguistic separation of "us" (their tribe) from "them" (everyone else), the pariwat. Whereas they refer to themselves as the wuujuyû, or "our people", everyone else is spoken of as the equivalent of "prey".
Unlike the Pirahã
, the Mundurucu have a numeracy
system, albeit limited (similar to that found in some Aboriginal Australian cultures). Pierre Pica
was instrumental (in a work done in collaboration with Stanislas Dehaene
and Elizabeth Spelke
) in revealing the psychophysics
and linguistic
properties of the Munduruku counting system to the Western world
. The Mundurucu only have number words up to five, although each word is not as definite in meaning as number words in English
. Furthermore, the Mundurucu use the logarithmic scale
to approximate number "distance", which is a strategy all humans have been shown to use before more extensive exposure in numbers.
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
basin. Some Mundurucu communities are part of the Coatá-Laranjal Indigenous Land. They had an estimated population in 2010 of 11,640.
History
Traditionally the Munduruku's territory, called Mundurukânia in the 19th century, was the Tapajós River valley. In 1788, they completely defeated their ancient enemies the MurasMuras
Muras may refer to:* Muras, Galicia— a municipality in the province of Lugo, Galicia, Spain* Muras people— an indigenous people of South America...
. After 1803 they lived at peace with the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ians.
Today the tribe faces threats to their homelands from hydroelectric projects, illegal gold-panning, and a new waterway construction on the Tapajós River.
Name
Also known as the Mundurucu, Maytapu, and Cara Preta, the Mundurucu's name for themselves is Wuy Jugu. Oral historyOral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
says the name "Muduruku" comes from their enemies the Parintintin people and means "red ants," based on the historical Munduruku tactic of attacking en masse.
Culture
The Mundurucu have a distinctive residence pattern. Rather than a pattern based on conjugal or affinal bonds, in the Munduruku villages, all males over the age of thirteen live in one household, and all of the females live with all of the males under thirteen in another.Language
The Munduruku language is part of the Tupi language family.They are also notable for their linguistic separation of "us" (their tribe) from "them" (everyone else), the pariwat. Whereas they refer to themselves as the wuujuyû, or "our people", everyone else is spoken of as the equivalent of "prey".
Unlike the Pirahã
Pirahã people
The Pirahã people are an indigenous hunter-gatherer tribe of Amazon natives, a subgroup of the Mura, who mainly live on the banks of the Maici River in Brazil's Amazonas state, in the territory on Humaitá and Manicoré municipality....
, the Mundurucu have a numeracy
Numeracy
Numeracy is the ability to reason with numbers and other mathematical concepts. A numerically literate person can manage and respond to the mathematical demands of life...
system, albeit limited (similar to that found in some Aboriginal Australian cultures). Pierre Pica
Pierre Pica
Pierre Pica , is a research associate at the National Center for Scientific Research. He is a specialist in theoretical linguistics and more specifically of comparative syntax....
was instrumental (in a work done in collaboration with Stanislas Dehaene
Stanislas Dehaene
Stanislas Dehaene is a professor at the Collège de France, author, and director of INSERM . He has worked on a number of topics, including numerical cognition, the neural basis of reading and the neural correlates of consciousness. Dehaene was one of ten people to be awarded the James S...
and Elizabeth Spelke
Elizabeth Spelke
Elizabeth Shilin Spelke is an American cognitive psychologist at the Department of Psychology of Harvard University and director of the Laboratory for Developmental Studies....
) in revealing the psychophysics
Psychophysics
Psychophysics quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they effect. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" or, more completely, as "the analysis of perceptual...
and linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
properties of the Munduruku counting system to the Western world
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
. The Mundurucu only have number words up to five, although each word is not as definite in meaning as number words in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Furthermore, the Mundurucu use the logarithmic scale
Logarithmic scale
A logarithmic scale is a scale of measurement using the logarithm of a physical quantity instead of the quantity itself.A simple example is a chart whose vertical axis increments are labeled 1, 10, 100, 1000, instead of 1, 2, 3, 4...
to approximate number "distance", which is a strategy all humans have been shown to use before more extensive exposure in numbers.
External links
- "Cognition and arithmetics capability : what the Mundurucus Indians can teach us", CNRS Press relesae October,2004
- Amazon Children "Spontaneously" Understand Geometry National Geographic News, January 2006
- "Mastering the Geometry of the Jungle", New York Times, June 24, 2006
- "Intuitions of number-space in Amazonian Idigenous groups" CEA Press release, June 2008.
- Pica, P & Lecomte, A (2008), "Theoretical implications of the study of Numbers and Numerals in Mundurucu," Philosophical Psychology 21.4
- Pica, P, C Lemer, V Izard & Dehaene, S. (2004), "Exact and approximate arithmetic in an Amazonian Indigene Group" Science, 306, pp. 499–503.
- Dehaene, S., Izard, V., Spelke, E & Pica, P (2008), "Log or linear Distinct Intuitions of the number scale in Western and Amazonian Indigene Culture" Science 320, 5880, 1217–20