Chácobo - Kinship



Kin Groups and Descent. Traditional Chácobo society was organized into nine unstratified exogamous clans. What the older literature names as Southeastern Panoan tribes are actually the names of some Chácobo clans that have now disappeared. Inherited through the father's line, clan affiliation was identified through distinctive facial designs painted on the men's foreheads or on the women's pubic aprons. Affiliation to a particular clan did not imply ritual privileges or the holding of land. Although nowadays the elder Chácobo are still aware of their clan affiliation, the clan system neither regulates marriage nor enhances internal cooperation as it formerly did.

Kinship Terminology. Chácobo kinship terminology follows the Iroquois system for classifying cross and parallel cousins. For the ascending first generation the terminology is bifurcate-collateral.


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