ABSTRACT
The Uanano are a linguistically-distinct group of the Eastern Tukanoan family, inhabiting the Uaupes basin in Brazil and Colombia. Numbering approximately 1,500, the Uanano group is one of 15-20 linguistically exogamous fishing and horticultural peoples who form an integrated, intermarrying system in the Northwest Amazon. The Uanano conceive of themselves as a group of agnates descended from ancestral brothers born of the body of an anaconda. Each founding brother is the focal ancestor of a sib, whose members are spoken of as the "grandchildren of one man." One generation of brothers generates another through the name exchange. The first account is from Yuse, who performed his rendering in the dance house before a substantial audience of men and women. The company assembled for dancing on the occasion of the visit of a brother Uanano sib. The speaker was seated, along with hosts and guests, along the several walls of the spacious house.
