The Tucano people (sometimes spelt Tukano)(In Tucano: ye’pâ-masɨ (m.sg.), ye’pâ-maso (f.sg.), ye’pâ-masa (pl.)), are a group of

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

South Americans in the northwestern Amazon, along the

Vaupés River Vaupés River (Uaupés River) is a tributary of the Rio Negro (Amazon), Rio Negro in South America. It rises in the Vaupes Department of Colombia, flowing east through Vaupés Department. It forms part of the international border between the Depart ...

and the surrounding area. They are mostly in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, but some are in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. They are usually described as being made up of many separate

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

s, but that oversimplifies the social and linguistic structure of the region.

Cultures

The Tucano are multilingual because men must marry outside their language group: no man may have a wife who speaks his language, which would be viewed as a kind of

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

. Men choose women from various neighboring tribes who speak other languages. Furthermore, on marriage, women move into the men's households or longhouses. Consequently, in any village several languages are used: the language of the men; the various languages spoken by women who originate from different neighboring tribes; and a widespread regional 'trade' language. Children are born into the multilingual environment: the child's father speaks one language (considered the

Tucano language Tucano, also Tukano or Tucana, endonym ''ye’pâ-masa yee uúku͂sehé'', is a Tucanoan language spoken in Amazonas, Brazil and Colombia. Many Tariana people, speakers of the endangered Tariana language Tariana (also Tariano) is an endan ...

), the child's mother another, other women with whom the child has daily contact, and perhaps still others. However, everyone in the community is interested in language-learning so most people can speak most of the languages. Multilingualism is taken for granted, and moving from one language to another in the course of a single conversation is very common. In fact, multilingualism is so usual that the Tucano are hardly conscious that they do speak different languages as they shift easily from one to another. They cannot readily tell an outsider how many languages they speak, and they must be suitably prompted to enumerate the languages that they speak and to describe how well they speak each one.

Divisions

As mentioned above, the Tucano practice linguistic

exogamy Exogamy is the social norm of mating or marrying outside one's social group. The group defines the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. One form of exogamy is dual exogamy, in which tw ...

. Members of a linguistic descent group marry outside their own linguistic descent group. As a result, it is normal for Tucano people to speak two, three, or more Tucanoan languages, and any Tucano household (

longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from lumber, timber and ...

) is likely to be host to numerous languages. The descent groups (sometimes referred to as ''tribes'') all have their accompanying language; some of the most well known are listed below: * Bara Tukano *

Barasana Barasana (alternate names ''Barazana'', Panenua'', ''Pareroa'', or ''Taiwano is an exonym applied to an Amazonian people, considered distinct from the Taiwano, though the dialect of the latter is almost identical to that of the Barasana, and outs ...

* Cubeo (the Cubeo do not practice exogamy) *

Desana Desana (''Dzan-a'' in Piedmontese) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Vercelli. Desana borders the following municipalities: Asigli ...

Macuna The Macuna are a Tucanoan-speaking group of the eastern part of the Amazon basin, located around the confluence of the Pira Paraná River and Apaporis river, in the Colombian Vaupés Department and the Brazilian state of Amazonas. There are ...

* Wanano *Tucano (or Tucano Proper)

Subsistence

The Tucano are

swidden Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. Th ...

horticulturalist Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

s and grow

manioc ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

and other staples in forest clearings. They also hunt, trap, fish, and forage wild plants and animals.

References

External links

The Importance of Indigenous Knowledge
on the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

Tukano - Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. Instituto Socioambiental
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucano People Indigenous peoples in Brazil Indigenous peoples in Colombia Indigenous peoples of the Amazon

Cultures

Divisions

Subsistence

Further reading

References

External links