illtemperedcaviar

As the new year approaches, as people are in reflective mood, I thought I would highlight some of the most interesting things about the Pirahã [pee-rah-ha(n)] – a remote Amazonian group of people – which I think can provide a fresh look on our own lives.

I’ve collected these from reading a book called Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes, which is essentially the memoirs of Daniel Everett, an American who originally went to live with the Pirahã as a Christian missionary, but who ultimately lost his faith in trying to convert them. I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in anthropology, cultural studies and/or linguistics.

The primary reason for the Pirahã culture being so different is its isolation: having little contact with outsiders but more importantly having no shared language, so they are unable to communicate beyond absolute basics with any non-Pirahãs.

The Pirahã language is completely unrelated to any other living language, and so Everett had to learn from scratch, starting by pointing at things and interpreting the word the Pirahã said back as the name for that thing. In attempting to learn the language (with the ultimate goal of telling them about Christanity) he discovered some fascinating aspects of their culture and the way they see the world. 

He also noted that they seemed to be the happiest people he had ever met, without the fears and troubles that his faith promised an answer to (thus rendering it impossible to sell). I’ve drawn up a list of some of the most interesting things about their culture (because people seem to like lists) and tried to think about how and why their culture may have evolved in this way.

1. They do not dwell on the past

This happens in several ways. Firstly, in their language the only past tense is simple past, which is relative only to the present moment. “He saw a snake”, not “Had I seen the snake I might have been able to stop it and she would still be alive NOOOOOOO”. It’s impossible to be a Captain Hindsight in Pirahã society. The 2001 hit, “Shoulda Woulda Coulda” by Berverley Knight, would also make no sense to a Pirahã.

“They should have built fire escapes on those windows for the higher floors, then people could have gotten down.”

Pirahã also have no real folklore, because for them all that exists is immediate. They have no stories that exist beyond a generation, which is quite unique. This leads us to the fact that…

2. The Pirahã are the “Ultimate Empiricists”

In the Pirahã language it is only possible to say (for example) that Jack left to go fishing if, a) you saw Jack leave to go fishing, b) someone told you that they saw Jack leave to go fishing or c) you somehow deduced that Jack has gone fishing from the fact that Jack, the boat and the fishing equipment is gone. Without this information, this type of phrase simply does not make sense; the evidence for what one asserts in Pirahã must be embedded within the sentence. As you can imagine, this made it extremely difficult for Everett-the-missionary to tell Pirahãs about Jesus Christ:

Pirahã: “So Dan, Jesus: is he brown like us, or is he white like you?”

Daniel Everett: “I Don’t know I haven’t seen him”

“Well what did your dad say, because your dad must’ve seen him?”

“No, he never saw him.”

“Well what did your friend say who saw him?”

“No, I don’t know anybody who saw him.”

“Why are you telling us about him then?!”

But the Pirahãs perception of reality goes further than this scepticism (for want of a better word). Their perception of reality and existence is not binary like ours (that something either exists/is alive or does not exist/is not alive); instead, the universe is layered and there are levels of existence within it. Probably the most important level is the immediate – what you can see with your own eyes. This level of existence is therefore geographically specific; when people or things move beyond this vicinity, they cease to exist to the same extent. If a tree falls in the rainforest and a Pirahã is not around, it really does not make a sound, because it does not exist in this immediate sense.

This immediacy of experience is an integral part of Pirahã culture. They have a word which means things moving in and out of existence – Xibipíío (“Ih-bih-PEE-ou”) – and they seem to quite enjoy it. The closest thing in our culture is perhaps playing a game of peek-a-boo with a child; Pirahãs apparently show similar delight in seeing (for example) planes flying in or going out from their vicinity, which for them effectively means coming or going out of immediate existence.

“Look! the plane xibipíío comes/goes!”

This layered perception of reality and existence would certainly mean that Pirahãs are well prepared when it comes to dealing with loss, whether that be the death of a loved one, the death of their favourite dog or even damage to a boat (or what other little possessions they have). It means they value what they see in front of them and do not worry so much about things they cannot control.

3. A Pirahã is more than one person during his or her life

Pirahãs believe they live several lives, during their biological lifespan, and their names can change multiple times. It seems this is often catalysed be particular events, like a near death experience or maybe giving birth, and they can be assigned (by general consensus) or self-proclaimed. Once a name change has happened, the Pirahãs will no longer answer to their old name and, apparently, will claim not to know anything of their “previous life”. Daniel Everett was given a new name (he already had a Pirahã name) when he was considered to be a sort of “elder”.

I have realised we do this to some extent in our culture. Most people has at least one friend that used to be really fun and/or crazy but then got a boyfriend/girlfriend and now seem like a different person (new character by general consensus). Adolescents may adopt a new, usually subcultural (e.g. goth), identity (self-assigned character).

They used to be total legends when they were single. Now look at them: watching themselves (maybe, probably) on their TV, wasting away in a puddle of their own co-dependence.

I think the Pirahãs simply formalise this change, because they realise that change, death and rebirth, be they literal or otherwise, are important aspects of everyday life. Other comparable examples in my culture are in marriage, the bride traditionally taking on the name of the groom; changing email addresses from some stupid alias you used when you used MSN messenger when you were 14; Gandalf the Grey died (well, did he though) and returned as Gandalf the White; Walter White became Heisenberg in Breaking Bad.

Walter White’s character changed with the mythical “Heisenberg” name he created.

4. They don’t worry about the future

Not much changes in the Pirahãs’ jungle environment, and there is almost always enough food, most of which comes from the river in the form of fish. As a result, there is no need to worry about the future, because everything is done on a get-it-as-you-need-it basis. In northern Europe, for example, there is much more of a tradition of preserving food for the hard winter months (when food is scarce). I would imagine that this has transformed into a broader part of our culture, where “we” are quite pessimistic (pessimism is useful because it means you prepare for the worst).  The relative lack of change in the weather throughout the year in the Amazon means that there is no reason to prepare for the distant future, which means that such anxiety is not a part of their culture: anxiety is not useful in the Pirahãs’ environment.

Their culture has evolved from the demands of their environment, and their language is a product of that culture. This is Everett’s argument, which is apparently very controversial because it conflicts with Chomskian linguistic theories – which say that culture is a product of language – but I’m definitely with Everett on this one.

5. Pirahãs are equals

There are no leaders and no governance in Pirahã society; it represents a truly egalitarian system (or lack of system). Judging from what Everett says in the book, most group decisions are simply made by consensus, and because the Pirahãs’ culture is so strong; because their culture is a product of the very specific challenges of their environment, they have very similar values and think in the same way, so consensuses are reached relatively easily. There is a notable lack of competition, as Everett discovered when he tried to organise a race and the leader slowed down to wait for others to catch up. On the other hand, Pirahãs are massive pranksters and love playing tricks on each other, while the men argue over who would win in a fight when they’ve been drinking (most violence in Pirahã community comes after drinking alcohol, which comes from outside). The fact that they live in this egalitarian community shows us that it is possible for humans to live together using such a system: it is not human nature to govern or be governed.

Men and women have different roles because of the fact that women have breasts and feed their small children, so their roles are established as being back in the village, while men do most (but not all) of the hunting. Interestingly, when men are unfaithful to their spouses, they may return to them and submit themselves to be physically (but I think, playfully) beaten by their spouses. I’m not sure how it works the other way around, but I’m fairly certain if the woman leaves that represents the end of the marriage.

More profound is the fact that children are treated as equals. As soon as the child is physically old enough (from around the age of 3) they are expected to work. Allowances are made for their small size and lack of strength but they have to work like everyone else. However, this also means that they entitled to do exactly the same things as the adults, such as smoking, drinking and even sex, if they so wish. Pirahã parenting involves knowingly letting children hurt themselves so that they learn for themselves from their mistakes. An example from the book is where a child was playing with a knife next to his mother, dropped it on the floor, almost cutting his foot, so the mother picked up the knife and gave it back to the child so he could continue playing with it. When children do hurt themselves they are not shown any special attention if their injuries are minor, as this is supposed to be a lesson for the child. This perhaps sounds a little uncaring but it results in having individuals who are responsible for themselves, independent (i.e. they don’t need to be carried by others), and seem to be very content (just like the adults). 

6. Actions speak louder than words (or there are no words)

The Pirahãs have very few phatic words – that is, words that have no real purpose other than to smooth social interaction. Politeness features like “please” and “thank you” have no place in Pirahã. If one person has done another a favour, they might say “okay, that is acceptable” and then later repay the favour by helping them. The language we use to persuade people to help us are like non-binding promises to repay a debt, whereas Pirahãs actually repay that debt without promising anything.