18 min • 3 lectures
This course examines the anthropological research of Bartholomew Dean regarding the Urarina people of the Peruvian Amazon. It focuses on the concepts of uxorilocality and brideservice, which form the foundation of Urarina social organization. In this system, men relocate to the households of their wives' families and provide lifelong labor to their in-laws. These practices create what Dean calls a "moral economy," where personhood and status are defined through debt and service rather than material wealth. The lectures explore how kinship acts as a primary economic engine, shifting the focus from individual independence to deep communal obligations. The curriculum further analyzes the political implications of these domestic hierarchies. Participants will learn about "predatory sociality," a concept explaining how senior men maintain authority by controlling the labor of their daughters' husbands. This decentralized power structure prevents the formation of coercive centralized leadership while regulating internal social order. Finally, the course addresses how these traditional kinship structures serve as a mechanism of resistance against external threats, including global capitalism and extractive industries like oil and logging. By examining the Urarina "Forest of Debt," the series demonstrates how indigenous social systems provide a buffer against the commodification of labor and land in the 21st century.
