Yąnomamö: Culture, Cosmology, and Cannibalism

I. The Yąnomamö:
        A. Amazonian
                1. the region and the rainforest
                2. rainforest ecology
        B. Yąnomamö
                1. the Orinoco basin, border location
                                   
                3. population and environment
                3. shabonos
                      
        C. Chagnon’s fieldwork
                1. the fierce people
                2. the fierce anthropologist
                3. enforcing egalitarianism
                4. Bisaasi-teri

II. A Tribal-Level Society
        A. Leadership
                1. headman
                2. achieved status
                3. authority but no power
        B. Subsistence
                1. swidden agriculture, 3 yr. cycles
                2. plantains, manioc, taro, sweet potato, tobacco; hunting: pigs, monkey, deer, armadillos, some fishing
                3. more leisure time that modern Western cultures
                4. why shift fields? nutrient poor soils or pesky weeds?
                5. ancient agriculture in Amazonia (raised fields circa 4000 years ago?)
        C. Kinship and Gender Relations
                1. ideal marriage partner, cross-cousin
                2. polygyny, especially for headmen
                3. male ideology of women as potentially polluting
                4. domestic violence

III. Origins and Beliefs
        A. Moonblood
                1. man/spirit shoots moon, blood drops form Yąnomamö
                2. waiteri and the ethos of fierceness
                3. the origin of other peoples
        B. The cosmos
                1. top layer
                2. sky layer
                3. earth
                4. underworld
         
 

        C. Sacred Architecture of the Shabono
                1. "things of the village" and "things of the forest"
                2. meeting of sky, earth, and underworld
                3. under poles a power conduit location
                4. Titiri the giant penis deamon
                      
        D. Souls
                1. the "will," goes to sky after death
                2. another part released at cremation, lives in jungle
                3. liver soul (and hekura)
                4. nahual, or spirit double soul
        E. Shamans
                1. hekura
                2. becoming a shaman: hekura in the body
                3. ebene, halcangenic snuff
                

                4. healing
        F. Cannibalism
                1. death and rebirth
                2. endocannibalism v. exocannibalism
                3. Beth Conklin’s work with the Wari
                4. bone soup

IV: Violence
        A. Alliances
                1. village fissioning
                2. constantly shifting web of alliances
                3. security net
        B. A war (see Chapter 6)
                1. Monou-teri and Bisaasi-teri split off from Patanowa
                2. in 1964 Patanowa and Bisaasi have a feast to create a new alliance
                3. Men from Monou-teri come and steal 7 Patanowa women
                4. Patanowa go to Monou: get 5 of the women but would not kill
                5. Jan 1966: Monou go and kill a Patanowa man (raid) with arows
                6. the Patanowa then attack and kill the Monou headman (a classificatory brother to Kąobawa of Bisassi)
                7. now Kąobawa and Bisaasi have to align with Monou to revenge the death
                8. raids on Patanowa kill 8 people over 1 year
        C. Killers
                1. All killers go through a cleaning rituals
                2. and once a man has killed he is an Unokais
                3. 2.5 times more wives, 3 times more children
                4. sociobiological arguments
        D. Protein arguments
                1. Michael Harner and Marvin Harris on Aztecs
                           
                2. Harris argues that the Yąnomamö have chronic protein shortages
                3. war creates wildlife preserves between villages
        E. Chagnon’s view
                1. protein intakes vary from village to village, but overall average is sufficient
                2. high protein villages fight as much as low protein villages
                3. it is WOMEN, another scarce resource

V. Darkness in El Dorado
        A. Patrick Tierney’s (2000) book Darkness in El Dorado
                1. measles vaccine and charges of genocide
                2. tool distribution and violence (See the film The Feast)
                3. hyperbole (warfare and "fierceness")
        B. Reactions
                1. genocide accusations not supported
                2. ethical role of fieldworkers
                3. Here is a critique of Tierney by anthropologist John Tooby in Slate online magazine