From the Ground Up: The Interpersonal Politics of a Native American Peace System

Thomas A.Gregor博士将对维持和平和避免冲突的土著文化系统进行研究，因为它存在于巴西中部新古河上游的Mehinauku人中间。Mehinauku人是生活在相对和平中的14个土著社区之一。虽然说着六种相互不能理解的语言，但当地的群体相互通婚，交换特产，参加彼此的仪式。他们之间的战争是未知的。这项研究解决的首要问题是，是什么支撑着新谷系统？因为之前的研究表明，新谷的和平似乎是从头开始的，所以这个项目将使用认知人类学技术来关注个人和人际关系。研究人员将入住村长屋，对当地和部落间亲属关系网络进行谱系测绘，并进行深入采访。他将使用认知人类学技术，如自由列表、三合会分类和文化共识分析，得出社会类别并探索文化差异。道德判断和道德推理将在研究期间通过向告密者提供假想的“麻烦案例”来引发，这些案例探索慷慨、分享、自我牺牲和同情心。这项工作将通过探索照顾病人和失去亲人以及分享食物等做法，进一步记录村民的同理心能力。村民之间的温暖联系扩大了道德共同体，并在一定程度上模糊了当地的种族联系。但在某些方面，新谷的和平是一种不安的和平，利己主义的动机、对暴力的恐惧和巫术似乎也在其中发挥了作用。这项研究将考察对巫术的恐惧如何阻止攻击性，冲突如何在普遍反对暴力的文化中表达，以及儿童如何在青春期学习控制情绪。这项研究之所以重要，是因为它是了解一个成功地与其他社会保持和平关系的社会的最后机会之一。和平是一个极其重要的话题，但面对日益侵蚀的巴西社会，在上辛古观察和平的机会正在迅速消失。这项研究还将有助于人类学理论的发展，将文化的人际和制度方面联系起来。

Dr. Thomas A. Gregor, will undertake research on an indigenous cultural system for sustaining peace and avoiding conflict as it exists among the Mehinauku who along the upper reaches of the Xingu river in central Brazil. The Mehinauku are one of fourteen indigenous communities who live in relative peace. Though speaking six mutually unintelligible languages, local groups intermarry, trade specialty goods, and attend one another's ceremonies. Warfare among them is unknown. The overarching question that this research addresses is what sustains the Xingu system?Because previous research has indicated that the Xingu peace seems to emerge from "ground up," this project will focus on individuals and interpersonal relations using cognitive anthropological techniques. The researcher will reside in the village long house, do a genealogical mapping of local and intertribal kinship networks, and carry out in-depth interviews. He will use cognitive anthropological techniques, such as free lists, triad sorts, and cultural consensus analysis to elicit social categories and explore cultural variability. Moral judgments and moral reasoning will be evoked during the research by presenting informants with hypothetical "trouble cases" that probe generosity, sharing, self-sacrifice and compassion. The work will further document the villagers' capacity for empathy by exploring such practices as the tending of the sick and the bereaved and the sharing of food. The links of warmth between villagers enlarge the moral community and partially blur local ethnic affiliations. But in some respects the Xingu peace is an uneasy one, in which egoistic motivation, fear of violence and witchcraft also seem to have a role. The research will examine how fear of witchcraft deters aggression, how conflict is expressed within a generally anti-violent culture, and how children learn to contain emotions during adolescence. The research is important in that it is one of the last opportunities to understand a society that has successfully maintained peaceful relations with other societies. Peace is a profoundly important topic but the opportunity to observe it in the Upper Xingu is rapidly disappearing in the face of encroaching Brazilian society. The research also will contribute to the development of anthropological theory that links interpersonal and institutional aspects of culture.