Tapir Distribution
From the Yanomamo series
by Timothy Asch and Napoleon Chagnon
(study guide available)
color, 15 min, 1975
institutional price includes public performance rights
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The conflict shown in The Ax Fight disrupted the political stability in Mishimishimabowei-teri. Several days after the fight, Moawa, the most prominent headman in the village, killed a tapir and presented it to his brothers-in-law who comprise an important political bloc in the village. The gift of the animal served to reinforce his now shaken alliance with them. The film shows how the meat is prepared, cooked and distributed. The choice meat goes to the important men in the village, the scraps and fat go to the women and the children and, finally, the dogs move in for the scant leftovers. This film could be shown directly after The Ax Fight as a dramatic example of how sharing meat in a gift exchange can help socially and politically to smooth over problems and re-unite groups.
This film is included on the Yanomamo Shorts compilation DVD.
Other films in the Yanomamo series:
Arrow Game
The Ax Fight
Bride Service
Children's Magical Death
Climbing the Peach Palm
A Father Washes His Children
The Feast
Firewood
Jaguar, a Yanomamo Twin Cycle Myth
Magical Death
A Man and His Wife Make a Hammock
Man Called Bee: Studying the Yanomamo
Moonblood: A Yanomamo Creation Myth
Myth of Naro, as told by Dedeheiwa
Myth of Naro, as told by Kaobawa
New Tribes Mission
Ocamo is My Town
Tug-of-War, Yanomamo
Weeding the Garden
Yanomamo: A Multidisciplinary Study
Yanomamo of the Orinoco