Everett describes the murder of the Apurinã man Joaquim as representing the “dark side” of Pirahã culture. How does this event challenge or complicate Everett’s broader portrayal of the Pirahãs as a uniquely happy and non-coercive society?

How does Everett use his fieldwork narrative in Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes to pit an inductive, data-driven methodology against Noam Chomsky’s theory-first approach to linguistics? Which is a better approach, and why?

How does Everett depict the Amazonian environment as an active agent that shapes the Pirahã’s worldview, as well as Everett’s own experiences and intellectual development?

Explore the full implications of the Pirahã distinction between “straight heads” and “crooked heads.” How does this conceptual binary influence their interactions with outsiders and reinforce their resistance to cultural and linguistic assimilation?

Everett’s intellectual journey culminated in the rejection of his missionary role. Examine his transformation through a postcolonial lens. How does his narrative challenge the traditional power dynamics of Western ethnography, and where might it unintentionally reinforce them?

The Pirahã language is characterized by a series of significant “absences,” including recursion and numerals. How does Everett frame these linguistic features in the context of the cultural value of immediate experience?

How is Everett’s deconversion arc influenced by the Pirahã’s empirical worldview?

What role do the caboclos play in the narrative? How do they help contrast or define the unique and radical isolation of the Pirahã worldview?