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take and tell: a practical classification from the San Blas Cuna
Author(s) -
HOWE JAMES,
SHERZER JOEL
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1975.2.3.02a00060
Subject(s) - subsistence agriculture , generosity , cash , relevance (law) , economics , archaeology , history , political science , law , agriculture , macroeconomics
The San Bias Cuna of Panamá classify crops and wild forest products according to the kinds of access people other than their owners may have to them. In addition to a formal analysis of the classification itself and a discussion of its significance for “cognitive anthropology,” we show the relevance of the classification to everyday life, in particular to such critical problems in Cuna social and economic organization as theft, generosity, and a conflict between cash crops and the subsistence economy. We demonstrate that the Cuna disagree about the application of access rules to particular crops and conclude by considering the implications of this disagreement.