The Symbols of “Forest”: A Structural Analysis of Mbuti Culture and Social Organization

Abstract

This structural analysis of the Epulu Mbuti (Zaire) offers an “ideationalist” alternative to more radically “empiricist” or “materialist” studies of hunter‐gatherers. Spatial, kinship, affinal, and ritual metaphors of the “Forest” (ndura) involve homologous representations of family, sub‐band, band, and total Forest collectivities. Peculiarly Mbuti “anomalies” (e.g., reputed absence of kinship, patriliny, and sub‐band groups; elima ritual; age and gender equality) become intelligible in terms of resolving the core contradiction of the system: endogamy versus exogamy.

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