Yanomamo Tribe Culture

There is much confusion about the heritage of the Jumano Indians because they were not all living in the same area when the Europeans reached the New World. In fact, anthropologists say that there were three or more separate Jumano groups. A main group was living near the Rio Grande and Rio Concho Rivers in West Texas, as well as Old and New Mexico. A second lived on the Southern Plains, and a smaller one resided between these two areas. To make identification more difficult, the Jumanos moved from area to area.

     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

The use and carrying of baskets holds many functions in the Yanomami culture. Baskets are made in a variety of different shapes and

and the North American culture that we have adapted to, but just at there is

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)

There were a ton of gender differences going on in both Sonqo and Yanomamo. In Sonqo, the major gender differences, to me, were shown numerously in traditional rituals performed. Every tradition was performed by a man and the men always played the most important part. An example of this was when they would share the bundles of coca for chewing. During the exchange of these, men always received it

In the Yanomamo culture, warfare is practiced as a way to demonstrate the strength of a village, or individual. Overall, warfare is practiced in the Yanomamo culture because of a combination of factors. One of the proximate, or indirect, causes of the violence include seeking revenge for villagers who have been killed. Another proximate cause of violence that it is used to steal women from other villages in order to increase the number of available wives. Also, villages must appear intimidating and tough so that other villages do not raid them. These are a few of the proximate causes of violence. Competition over scarce resources is one ultimate, or root, cause of violence. Men who are violent may gain greater social status, which encourages violence overall. Another ultimate cause of the violence is the lack of strong political leadership within the villages. These villages do not have leaders to stop violence or structure violence in productive ways. Without such leaders, villagers are more likely to rely on violence in impulsive ways. Hostility between villages often results in violence, as there are no leaders to resolve the hostility. In addition, another ultimate cause of violence is the geographical environment of the Yanomamo. Since the Yanomamo territory is restricted, and often invaded by outsiders, available land becomes more scarce. This causes competition for land to increase, which increases violence. Since people of the Yanomamo cannot move into areas

In Patrick Tierney’s article “The Fierce Anthropologist,” he discussed the faults that are, or may be, present in Napoleon Chagnon’s anthropological research of the Yanamamo, or “The Fierce People,” as Chagnon has referred to them in his best-selling book on the people.

They had ceremonies for several things. They have Midwinter ceremonies, Nature ceremonies, Maple sap ceremonies, Planting ceremonies, Bean ceremonies, Strawberry ceremonies, Green corn ceremonies, and Harvest ceremonies. Dances and songs are preformed counter clockwise. Some dances are preformed by men. Others are preformed by women. However both kept a beat played on drums and rattles. They like to have funny and fun ceremonies. The Onondaga tribe usually wears headdresses but women and men wear a type of skirt with sandals or slippers. The clothing they wear is specifically called The Gustoweh. The Gustoweh describes one nationality. The women and men would wear a type of pair of shoes that are like slippers with a flower on the front. They didn't wear long headdresses like the

The Yanomamo are a tribe of twenty thousand who live in about two hundred and fifty widely dispersed villages in Brazil and Venezuela. It was first thought that the Yanomamo were a group of hunter-gatherers, but contrary to that thought they actually cultivate their own crops for food. They also hunt and forage, but only as needed.

When one pictures the societies that spanned throughout our Mesoamerica and South America the images of warriors, conquests, gold and great feats of architecture, spawn in the mind. Missing from not only there, but the focus of many studies are the crucial roles that women played in these societies. Between each society; the Mayan, Aztec and Inca, each has their own unique culture and role for women within it. One wonders the roles of women in society, where does she fit in; politics, religious practices, and within the home. These roles are dictated by the characteristics of the society in which they live. It is crucial to begin uncovering for each of these societies, the roles of which the women took on, through exploring three subject matters, the role of women concerning government and law, politics, the role of women in day-to-day life and lastly, religious roles of women.

The oral history of these people talk about how groups or bands of people were entrusted to care for the environment and resources within their ancestral territory (About The Hualapai Nation, 22). They are descendants of a group called the Cerbat (“Hualapai Tribe”). The tribe’s ancestral territory estimated to be about five million acres (About The Hualapai

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.

Deep in the Mukogodo forest located in west central Kenya is where you will find the last of the Mukogodo people. Throughout history there have been significant changes for the Mukogodo people as they try to transition their culture and ethnicity to be Maasai. Before the transition in the early 1920’s to Maasai, Mukogodos were foraging, bee keeping people with their language, Yaaku, and lived in rock caves. Now they are pastoralists who speak only Maa, and no longer live in caves. Sadly even after all the changes they have made, Mukogodos are still not accepted as Maasai and are viewed as the bottom rung of the regional hierarchy.

The raiding of the Tainos communities by the Kalinagos warriors in which Tainos women were taken as wives for the young Kalinagos warriors. However, the Tainos women were able to transfer some of their custom to the Kalinagos society, even though their husband spoke a different language from them. The use of tobacco was common in both Amerindian group (Tainos and Kalinagos) and the painting of their bodies with dyes which was a favourite pastime of both groups of Amerindian.