Theory, methods, and ethnographic engagement of " violence " in the Yanomami and other Amerindian Groups (original) (raw)

In 1968, Napoleon Chagnon published his best-selling ethnography ​ The Fierce People​ , which established the Yanomami as a violent people in the public eye for decades to come. Indeed, in 1976, ​ Time ​ described the Yanomami as a " rather horrifying " culture which can only be described in terms of animal behaviour akin to baboons [Time 1976: 37], and over the coming decades, horror films like ​ Canibal Holocausto would continue to fuel public imagination, declaring the Yanomami people as lovers of sadistic orgies [Ramos 1987: 296]. These examples mark but fragments in a convoluted puzzle, and at its centre lies one of anthropology's most divisive debates, the ​ Fierce People ​ controversy. The controversy began with Chagnon's book, and later with his infamous ​ Science ​ article, where he presented the argument that the Yanomami who kill the most do so out of evolutionary reasons to gain reproductive advantage. The arguments of this debate extend beyond the Yanomami, to general treatment of Amerindian groups and the public's interpretation of their " violent " behaviour.

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