Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

La Vivienda Colectiva De Los Yanomami, Graziano Gasparini, Luise Margolies

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article on the shapono, the traditional dwelling of the Yanomami, is taken from our book, Arquitectura Indígena de Venezuela. The Yanomami are one of the three indigenous groups of the tropical forest region of lowland Venezuela who build large collective dwellings that house the entire community. In contrast to the neighboring Ye’kwana and Wôthuha, who inhabit closed structures located near large waterways, the Yanomami are forest people whose traditional shapono is a structure opening onto a large central patio. Here, we examine the cultural division of space into private, semiprivate, and public areas in the context of Yanomami …