divided into hunting territorries, which face a central territory called the "no man's land", each
occupied by a band of Mbuti that was attached to the village at the periphery. All hunting
territories extended inwards, away from the village. Mbuti who are hunting within any one
territory can have access to the Mbuti within any other territory. This mobility seems to be of
great importance to the Mbuti, as much in their economic life as in their domestic and political
life. The Mbuti conception of the " family space" unites in terms of address all those who hunt
together and live in the same camp at any one time. Within such camps, which change in
composition as they change location monthly, there are distinct lines of fission and fussion that
can be seen by the way the endus (homes of nuclear families) are clustered, and by their
orientation to the central hearths. The movements of fission and fussion are used to evade
conflict and achieve EKIMI. In Mbuti society children play at the "bopis" (playgrounds) until
they reach their youth. It is their duty to perform the ritual of lighting the hunting fire, as they are
te carriers of EKIMI, to purify hunters (Adults) after having performed the sacriledge of killing,
main source of AKAMI. In their youth they have the power of controlling justice and resolving
conflict. Women gather different plants, roots and help the men with the hunt.
In Annette Weiner ethnography on the Trobrianders of New Guinea, she first says it is a
matrilineal society, which is to say a society in which a common female ancestor through
women. Each matrilineage has certain power, which seems to be based on the belief they are
siblings of the original trobrianders. the ones who say to be descendants of the founders are the
ones to wear decorations. The way land is distributed is also based on the reputation of
individuals working in each separate matrilineage. This society lives in villages. Even ranked
members or commoner lineages heve the same organization of hamlets within each village. From
two to eight hamlets, although these may vary in size, constitute a village, and each hamlet is
composed of approximately six to twenty households. In each hamlet one man controls all the
matrilineal land and other property originally established by his lineage ancestors. A chief may
be formed by someone who works hard since he is given his own land; or one who inherits
these right from an ancestor. But it is necessary to work a lot and have spiritual power to
succeed as chief. Tabalu, for example is the highest chief matrilineage in the Trobriand islands.
There are also other ways to get land which is kula, an overseas exchange network that includes
many islands in the Massim, where armshells (mwali) and necklaces (bagi) are exchanged for
each other through complex sets of transactions. The attainment of Kula shells provides the
means to realize fame, but such fame must still be attached to a more elementary kind of
inmortality; that of the lineage.
In Archetti's ethnography on Guinea- Pig consumption in ecuatorean peasant society he
states the guinea pig belongs, in a clear and indisputable way, to the world of female domestic
practices. Then he says that the guinea pig suggests the domestic household, the kitchen,
protection against the outside-symbolic fields that refer to certain aspects of female identity. The
guinea pig is converted into food, dishes, recipes, tastes, and smells, and it is women who carry
out this process of transformation. Archetti Had been employed by the Ecuatorean Government
to study why their attempts to establish a capitalist market on guinea pig consumption had
mostly failed. He thought to have found a possible explanation; what the government had tried
to do was to not only change guinea pigs, but their social foundations in peasant society and the
peasant social organization of space concerning the guinea pigs only succeding in small focuses
of population.
Space in our society is based on who gets the most profit out of the quantity of space
given. The more profit you get; the more space you buy and the most powerful you are. The
only space which do not charge a tax for stepping on it are pavement rivers called streets, or
parks which keep dissapearing as we speak. Please, do not forget thet detruction that capitalism
creates, because if our culture is destructive; the space sorrounding us will be destructed;
because we know that all space is cultural; once it is occupated by humans.
FERNANDO PEREZ FERRO IB2A 2001
