Economy & Kuna Life

At present, the Kuna economy is based on a mixture of hunting, fishing, collecting, farming, trade, and migratory work. Peccaries, squirrels, tapirs, agoutis, monkeys, deer, birds, and iguanas are the principal species hunted. Hunting techniques include the use of bow and arrow, blowguns, spears, shotguns, and pits. Nets, bow and arrow, hook and line, and weirs are used in fishing, while turtling involves the use of nets and decoys. Hunting has decreased in importance as the men have focused their activities on slash-and-burn horticulture, formerly a female activity. Major crops include bananas, plantains, corn, yams, sweet potatoes, rice, sugarcane, sweet manioc, avocados, coconuts, and other tropical fruits. Except for coconuts, all crops are grown on the mainland, and the island-dwelling Kuna must travel by dugout canoe or sailboat to their lands. They are also dependent on the mainland for their water supply. Besides supplying the bulk of the Kuna diet, these crops are used in trade conducted on a cash basis. Wage labor opportunities outside the Kuna area in urban centers or with various U.S. enterprises in Panama have attracted an increasing number of Kuna, though usually on a short-term basis. The modern Kuna economy is highly cash oriented, and just about everything from land to esoteric knowledge may be bought and sold.

Kuna villages vary in size and degree of modernization, but they exhibit structural similarities. The basic unit is the household, usually comprised of an extended family. The head of the household is the oldest male, who is most frequently the father or father-in-law of the other household men. His wife holds a somewhat similar authority over the activities of the other females in the household. On the death of the household head, he may be succeeded by the oldest surviving male, or the household may split into several independent units. Marriages are arranged by parents. Beyond restrictions against marriage to close relatives and a preference for marriage between economic equals, there are few restrictions or preferences in the choice of marriage partners. Divorces are permissible. Polygamy, though allowed, is infrequent and confined to the wealthy. Infanticide is known and, in the past, albino infants were frequently put to death. Knowledge of Kuna tradition is still an important determinant of status and is the basis on which village chiefs are elected by the adult men to lifetime terms. Chiefs have a number of assistants, the number varying with the needs of the village. The authority of the chief depends more on his ability to persuade than on his office. Decisions on communal activities are reached in meetings of all adult males. Chiefs also hold singing meetings in which they relate Kuna history and exhort villagers to behave properly. Social control is largely on the informal level, and disputes are settled by the interested parties. The Kuna religious system is intimately tied up with their medical system. There are several types of magico-religious practitioners, including seers, chanters, and cursers, some of whom specialize in epidemics. Thus far the Kuna have resisted missionization.

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