The Enculturation of Makiritare Women

Abstract

Of the many Cariban-speaking tribes who once dominated Venezuela, there probably is none that has survived into the present as successfully as the Makiritare (also known as Yekuana), a small tribe of approximately 1,500 Indians, inhabiting 30 independent villages along the Caura, Paragua, Erevato, Ventuari, and Cunucunuma Rivers, which are tributaries of the Orinoco. The name Makiritare, an Arawak word meaning Water People, and the term, Yekuana (Canoe People) may have been inspired by their unique skill in navigating these difficult rivers. It is a rugged landscape of huge table-top mountains rising to over 8,000 feet, and its dense rain forest is crossed with fierce rapids and impenetrable waterfalls. The Makiritare call their homeland Ihuruna (The Headwater Place). Because of their location, they have been able to isolate themselves behind natural barriers of water and jungle to avoid sustained contact and to maintain their way of life. Since their initial contact with the Spanish in 1756, the Makiritare have been

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