Yanomamo: The Fierce People

Content Warning: As critics of Chagnon’s work have argued, Chagnon’s depiction of the Yanomami people may be sensationalized and may not accurately reflect the reality of the culture. Ethical concerns have also been raised regarding the nature of his interactions with the Yanomami people. Both the source text and this guide contain descriptions of graphic violence, violence against women, sexual assault, infanticide, and abortion. Additionally, the source text features outdated language regarding issues of race and ethnicity and sometimes reflects ethnocentric biases.

“I describe the Yanomamö as ‘the fierce people’ because that is the most accurate single phrase that describes them. That is how they conceive themselves to be, and that is how they would like others to think of them.”

In his initial description of the Yanomami, Chagnon emphasizes that his description of them as culturally predisposed to aggression and violence aligns with their view of themselves. In this passage, Chagnon implies that the Yanomami have a cultural self-awareness and pride in their perceived “fierceness.” Thus, Chagnon openly defends his decision to label them as “the fierce people” by asserting that he is merely attempting to capture what he perceives to be a fundamental aspect of their identity.

“There are a few problems, however, that seem to be nearly universal among anthropological fieldworkers, particularly those having to do with eating, bathing, sleeping, lack of privacy and loneliness, or discovering that primitive man is not always as noble as you originally thought.”

Here, Chagnon touches on the controversial idea of the “noble savage,” which depicts Indigenous peoples as being inherently virtuous and uncorrupted by civilization. The challenges that he lists serve as a reminder that Indigenous cultures are not idealized paradigms but are instead made up of real, complex human individuals. This quote warns against romanticization of Indigenous cultures, emphasizing that the reality is always far more complicated.

“I had visions of entering the village and seeing 125 social facts running about calling each other kinship terms and sharing food, each waiting and anxious to have me collect his genealogy. […] I wanted them to be so fond of me that they would adopt me into their kinship system and way of life, because I heard successful anthropologists always get adopted by their people.”

This quote reveals Chagnon’s initially romanticized expectations of how his relationship with the Yanomami would progress. His note regarding anthropologists being adopted by “their people” implies his inherent sense of superiority over the Yanomami. It also hints at his perception that such adoption is a key marker of success. However, Chagnon’s purpose in this passage is to highlight his own naiveté upon the beginning of this fieldwork, for he acknowledges that this romanticized idea of the situation does not reflect the reality that awaited him.