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Indigenous Mathematics in the Amazon: Kinship as Algebra and Geometry Among the Cashinahua

In: Indigenous Knowledge and Ethnomathematics

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  • Mauro W. B. Almeida

    (Universidade Estadual de Campinas)

Abstract

The mathematical competence of non-literate cultures expressed in the design of complex sociological structures has been recognized since a path-breaking Appendix by the mathematician André Weil to Lévi-Strauss’s treatise on kinship structures. The import of Weil’s contribution was to highlight the role of symmetries underlying kinship structures and the algebraic concept of a group which can be seen as a general theory of symmetry. The kinship structure of the Cashinahua people who inhabit the south-western Brazilian Amazon is a unique example of symmetry in social organization. This point is illustrated here by means of a correspondence between the group of actions of Cashinahua kinship terms on Cashinahua name-sake classes, and of symmetries connecting graphic patterns, showing an underlying non-trivial structure known as a dihedral group.

Suggested Citation

  • Mauro W. B. Almeida, 2022. "Indigenous Mathematics in the Amazon: Kinship as Algebra and Geometry Among the Cashinahua," Springer Books, in: Eric Vandendriessche & Rik Pinxten (ed.), Indigenous Knowledge and Ethnomathematics, pages 221-242, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-030-97482-4_8
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-97482-4_8
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