Bands (and Longhouses) of Brothers (and Sisters): Siblinghood Among the Barí of the Maracaibo Basin

Ethnographic evidence from the Barí suggests that for these people the sibling-sibling connection is at least as prominent as the parent-child connection and the husband-wife connection as a foundational kin bond by means of which their overall social organization is constructed. In particular, siblinghood is probably the most important bond in the creation and perpetuation of the local longhouse groups that are the subsistence and residential basis of Barí society, and the assemblages of those local groups that form their territorial federations.