Chagnon Debate Essay

As an anthropologist, Holmes discusses how the Triqui workers are structurally vulnerable in this way because of the structural, political, and economic factors forcing them to work under these conditions.

The Yurok tribe, although mostly assimilated in present times, has continued to thrive and protect their culture. The Yurok tribe has endured a sordid history. The tribe has suffered great atrocities at the hands of western culture. The Yurok went from being a thriving people, to being assimilated, almost to the point of ethnocide, (Kottak) and finally forced to live in a small area that was once a part of their vast ancestral land. The Yurok people have strived up until the present to keep their culture alive. In this essay I will be discussing what the Yurok tribe is like today, what problems they face politically and socially, and what the tribe is doing to combat these issues.

     Napoleon Chagnon has spent about 60 months since 1964 studying the ‘foot people’ of the Amazon Basin known as the Yanomamo. In his ethnography, Yanomamo, he describes all of the events of his stay in the Venezuelan jungle. He describes the “hideous” appearance of the Yanomamo men when first meeting them, and their never-ending demands for Chagnon’s foreign goods, including his food. There are many issues that arise when considering Chagnon’s Yanomamo study. The withholding of genealogical information by the tribesmen, and how Chagnon was able to obtain his information is an interesting and significant aspect of this study. Why did Chagnon feel that this genealogical information was

"Children of the Forest" is a narrative written by Kevin Duffy. This book is a written testament of an anthropologist's everyday dealings with an African tribe by the name of the Mbuti Pygmies. My purpose in this paper is to inform the reader of Kevin Duffy's findings while in the Ituri rainforest. Kevin Duffy is one of the first and only scientists to have ever been in close contact with the Mbuti. If an Mbuti tribesman does not want to be found, they simply won't be. The forest in which the Mbuti reside in are simply too dense and dangerous for humans not familiar with the area to enter.

The Mayan people of the Yucatan Peninsula have endured great changes over their history, but many changes have occurred more recently as documented in the book by Cindy Hull. During a study in which she lived in Yaxbe for several decades, Hull examined the effects that this change has had on the people of the village and the Mayan people at large. Initially, Hull found that much was different about living with the people because she was used to the US Midwest. She was not used to the diet or to the family structure she found among the people, but she quickly adjusted to the changes and became a member of the village. Her task while she was there was to discover the social structure of the clan and how the culture has changed over time. She conducted a longitudinal study (one in which she became an integral member of the tribe) because she wanted to understand the people from a basal level. She believed that, despite the differences to what she experienced in her normal life, that the hardships she would face would get her closer to understanding the culture she was studying.

The Chimariko was a small group that is now part of list of extinct tribes in America. According to Kroeber (1976,109) they are a descendent of the Hokan, it is noted that they maintained their original language better than other groups such as Shasta and Pomo. (109) The Chimariko were estimated to be at 250 people in 1849, six people in 1903, and according to Kroeber “In 1906 there remained a toothless old woman and a crazy old man.” (1976,109)

It has flawlessly displayed the coalescence of the principles of archaeology, linguistics, forensic science and ethnography, the use of the holistic approach of anthropology (Parkin & Ulijaszek, 2007) to reveal the violence and inhumanity brought by global inequality, without euphemizing the real events. The message the anthropologist Jason De León has successfully resonated with his readers, serving as a thought-provoking eye opener of the current socio-political

In this article, Miner takes the role of an outsider and judges the Nacirema just as we judge other cultures. Miner does an exceptional job of wording things in such a way that we don’t even recognize our own culture. Miner wants us to realize that when someone, such as an anthropologist describes another culture, we can interpret that into being abnormal but in actuality, it is, by all means, very normal.

The following review will be about a movie named Avatar. Avatar dates back to 2009 and was directed by James Cameron. The greediness of those in power will always results in the suffering of those lacks power. This statement refers to the greediness that was depicted in the movie by the Resources Development Administrators (RDA), which led to a forceful relocation of the Na’Vi people. The following essay will include the discussion of three anthropological themes that were displayed. The first theme is the power of knowledge. Here I will discuss how knowledge was used against the NA’Vi people. The second theme is the notion of imperialism. The colonization of the Pandora will be discussed under imperialism. The third theme is the notion of ethics. Under ethics I will discuss the three main ethical principles that should be followed by every ethnographer.

War is a human endeavor. Humanity continually pursues solutions to counter evolving threats with the end of preserving power while also enabling peace. Civilizations resort to war to maintain their perception of this equilibrium. Defined threats and adversaries have changed throughout history, however, the essence of human nature and the base concept of conflict itself have not. Carl von Clausewitz’s theories on warfare capture the relationship between humanity and its application of war, remaining relevant in today’s era through their pensive explanations of timeless philosophical principles regarding the concept of war. These theories regarding war in politics, the key factors affecting war, and the extent that war is applied are inherently interconnected, providing insight on the relationships between humanity and its application of war.

The author’s purpose in writing this article was not to show the “Nacirema” as an example of how extreme human behavior can become, but how an outside perspective can affect your perception of an alien culture. If one were to look at the “Nacirema’s” cultural behaviors regarding physical appearance and health without any insight or knowledge of the specific beliefs or values of that culture, they might seem bizarre and even incomprehensible. By showing behaviors and “rituals” performed by this unknown tribe, Miner allowed others to see that the way studies were representing distinctive cultures was narrowminded and defective. Without the proper comprehension of the basis of any society, huge cultural misunderstandings could occur. Of

Caleb L. Fry and Lauren T. Rios Department of Anthropology Lake Tahoe Community College One College Drive South Lake Tahoe, California 96150 USA Faculty Advisor: Daryl G. Frazetti Abstract

Throughout the article, Doing Fieldwork among the Yanomamo, by Napoleon A. Chagnon the reader is able to read along as if they were a real anthropologist’s on a journey throughout the villages of tropical forests in unoccupied lands. Changnon begins his writing explaining the culture and life style of the Yanamamö people. How their daily lives focus on gardening, hunting, visiting and completing tasks to get through the day. He describes their short life expectancy and the risks of violence between surrounding villages. The amount of men is exceedingly larger than the women, and often time’s men have multiple wives. Changon describes how each village is apart of broader political demographic. However he expresses how difficult it is to understand all of this simply from his descriptions.

Commonly referred to as Bushmen by the general public and thought of as being harsh wild people that live in the “unlivable” Kalahari Desert. The Ju /’hoansi tribe native to the southern African desert, located along the border of Namibia and Botswana, have been misunderstood and stereotyped for a long time. This is until a man by the name of Richard B. Lee came along and wrote an ethnography about the local systems of the Ju and completely changed how an outsider might view this rural tribe, along with being a fine example of proper long-term field research in social anthropology. This highly regarded book on the Ju /’hoansi is titled “The Dobe Ju /’hoansi.” Although Lee states in the

Martin van Creveld wrote The Transformation of War book in 1991 when he detailed a predictive hypothesis about the changing character of war into what he called ?Nontrinitarian War. There were conflicts arise as intrastate wars and were not based on the simplified version of Clausewitz?s ?remarkable trinity? of government, people and military forces (Van Creveld, 1991, pg. 49). In his book, Van Creveld offers an account of warfare in the previous millennium and suggests what the future might hold. The drive was that major war was draining and the emergence of forms of war ?that are simultaneously old and new? now threatened to create havoc.