From the enemy's point of view : humanity and divinity in an Amazonian society /

Castro's book is much more than a traditional ethnography of the Arawete Indians, a Tupi-Guarani people of the Middle Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon. The book covers the usual cultural topics, especially emphasizing the cosmology and social organization of the Arawete. However, it goes far beyond in its comparision with other groups in the same linguistic family, concluding in a cosmological model for all the Tupi-Guanani. Beginning with an examination of cannibalism as a central theme in the Arawete concept of the divine, the author interprets Tupi-Guarani ritual anthrophagy as an expression of social ontology that differs from traditional views of ^D["primitive^D]" societies. The Arawete Indians live in a single village. Castro does an excellent job of recording the culture of a rapidly disappearing people as well as extrapolating a model by tying together the threads of modern comparative research with documents from colonial times. The wealth of information that results is stimulating and thought provoking. Graduate; faculty.