Yanomamö Fieldwork Notes

The Yanomamö People

  • Live in the Amazonian tropical forest in Venezuela and Brazil.
  • Villages are small, separated by unoccupied land.
  • Have a rich language but no writing system.
  • Clothing is minimal and decorative.

- Daily life includes gardening, hunting, gathering, and crafting.

  • Life is relatively easy, requiring about three hours of work per day.
  • Diet consists mainly of plantains and hunted game.
  • Villages are open, offering little privacy.
  • Village size ranges from 40 to 300 people, with many children.
  • Life expectancy is short.

Language and Pronunciation

  • The word 'Yanomamö' is nasalized.
  • The vowel 'ö' is similar to the German umlaut.
  • 'ä' is pronounced as the 'uh' sound in 'duck'.

Lifestyle and Customs

  • They are ‘foot people,’ avoiding large rivers.
  • Neighbors to the north, the Ye’kwana, are ‘river people’ using canoes.
  • Travel is difficult during the wet season.
  • The dry season is for visiting, feasting, and political activities.
  • Intervillage warfare affects social organization and settlement patterns; a significant portion of adult males die violently.
  • Social organization is based on kinship, descent, and marriage exchanges.
  • Headmen maintain order and manage village relationships, gaining influence through kinship and personal traits.
  • Social dynamics involve arranged marriages and alliances.

- Conflict arises from sexual affairs or broken marriage promises, leading to village fission.

  • Violence is graded, from chest-pounding to lethal fights, providing flexibility in resolving disputes.
  • Alliances and friendships are formed through trading and feasting.
  • Each village is a replica of others but influenced by larger political, demographic, and ecological forces.

Data Collection

  • The author spent over 60 months with the Yanomamö.
  • Observed the importance of aggression in their culture.
  • Observed incidents ranging from wife beating to organized raids.
  • Warfare shapes their mythology, ceremonies, and social practices.

Culture Shock

  • Fieldwork involves culture shock, affecting eating, bathing, privacy, and emotional flexibility.
  • The Yanomamö can be difficult to live with.
  • Sharp contrasts exist between different tribes.

Fieldwork Challenges and Lessons: Eating

  • It's time-consuming to maintain accustomed living standards.
  • Making oatmeal in the jungle involves multiple steps and challenges.
  • Eating three meals a day is impractical.
  • Solutions include eating one-pot meals and reducing clothing changes.
  • Developed a rain water collection system.

Food Sharing and Reciprocity

  • Food sharing is a sign of friendship.
  • It's difficult to share food with everyone.
  • Reciprocity is complex, with expectations of equivalent returns.
  • Some Yanomamö made meals unpleasant out of spite.

Loneliness

  • Overcome loneliness by seeking friendships, but ‘friends’ often exploited the author.
  • Difficult to cope with constant demands and lack of privacy.
  • Had to become sly, aggressive, and intimidating to cope.

Warfare

  • Had to demonstrate ability to defend himself to avoid exploitation.
  • Theft was common, requiring defensive action.
  • Recovered stolen items by confiscating the thief's hammock.

Genealogies and Reproductive Histories

  • Collecting genealogies was a primary research goal.
  • The Yanomamö have stringent name taboos, avoiding names of living and deceased people.
  • Invented false names for everyone, deceiving the author for months.
  • Used kinship terms but had to resort to personal names for clarity, which violated their etiquette.

Changing Research Strategy

  • Working in private with informants improved accuracy.
  • Built a core of accurate data to test new informants.
  • Used local arguments and animosities to select informants and cross-check information.

Rerebawä and Kaobawa

  • Rerebawä: He married into Bisaasi-teri and challenged Bäkotawä to a club fight after Rerebawä insulted his adversary's deceased father."- Rerebawä also revealed data about the ancestors of others in the village that the old man had fabricated since he was angry with everyone in the village.
  • Discovered the old man was lying about genealogies after a club fight revealed an insult involving a deceased relative.

Kaobawä: he volunteered to help with genealogies, and refused to lie.

The Shamatari

  • Made a first attempt, but was unsuccessful because his guides were afraid to proceed.
  • Attempted a second trip but gasoline was stolen and replaced with water
  • They had never the before seem a foreigner