Mehinaku people

E681351

The Mehinaku people are an Indigenous group of the Upper Xingu region in Brazil, known for their complex ritual life, communal village organization, and distinctive material and artistic culture.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Mehinaku people canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Indigenous people
anthropologicalThemes emotions and social life
gender relations
ritual and cosmology
continent South America
country Brazil
culturalAreaFeatures intergroup ritual exchanges
peaceful intertribal relations
specialized craft production
economy subsistence economy
ethnolinguisticGroup Arawak peoples
linked to: Arawak
houseType communal house
kinshipSystem bilateral tendencies with uxorilocal residence patterns
language Mehinaku language
languageFamily Arawakan languages
locatedIn Mato Grosso
Upper Xingu region
Xingu Indigenous Park
mainCrops bananas
maize
manioc
peanuts
materialCulture basketry
body painting
ceramics
feather ornaments
neighboringGroups Kamayurá people
Kuikuro people
Trumai people
Wauja people
Yawalapiti people
notableAnthropologists Thomas Gregor
partOf Upper Xingu cultural area
linked to: Upper Xingu region
primarySubsistence fishing
hunting
slash-and-burn agriculture
recognizedBy Brazilian state as Indigenous people
religion indigenous animist beliefs
ritualLife complex ritual system
ritualsInclude flute ceremonies
male initiation rites
mortuary rituals
socialOrganization village-based community
threats deforestation in surrounding regions
external economic pressures
uses Xingu River and its tributaries
linked to: Xingu River
villageCenterFeature central plaza
villageLayout circular village

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Mehináku language spokenBy Mehinaku people
Yawalapiti people neighboringGroup Mehinaku people