57 pages • 1-hour read
Yanomamo: The Fierce People
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Part 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 5: “Yanomamö Warfare”
Part 5, Chapter 1 Summary: “Levels of Violence”
In this section, Chagnon explores the dynamics of Yanomami aggression. When trading and feasts fail to establish an alliance between neighboring villages, the situation will not remain peaceful for long. In cases without outright raiding, paranoia on both sides will often lead to suspicion and accusations of sorcery. This situation will eventually devolve into raiding, which Chagnon lists as the primary form of Yanomami warfare. Chest-pounding duels, while violent, are the opposite of raiding because they are proper duels and, as such, are subject to strict rules of conduct. Escalation from there, as seen in the described feast, includes side-slapping or hitting each other with the flat of a machete blade. The subsequent escalation is “club fights,” in which opponents attack one another with blunt objects like clubs or poles. These fights are more informal and severe and often arise from arguments over stealing food or women. During the fight, other men will usually join in as well. Because of such conflicts, many men have scars on the tops of their heads, and some men shave their heads to show off these scars. A larger village size leads to more club fighting, which presents a greater probability of the village fissioning. Chagnon notes that this was the most common reason for villages to break up. Chagnon notes that using spears in formal fighting is rare but occurs when the anger between villages is too intense for less severe forms of violence. Chagnon recounts a specific spear-throwing incident that originated over a woman, highlighting the escalation of the conflict and the eventual use of shotguns borrowed from missionaries. This incident resulted in the two groups becoming enemies and engaging in raids to kill each other.
Part 5, Chapter 2 Summary: “The Raid and Nomohoni”
Chagnon describes raids as the inevitable next step in conflict escalation and the Yanomami’s true form of warfare. He states that the raid’s purpose is to kill at least one enemy and escape undetected. To be successful in a raid, the raiders must not be discovered by the victims; any counterattack resulting in the death of a raider is deemed a failure, regardless of the number of casualties inflicted by the raiders. Chagnon recounts the story of a raid that Rerebawä once went on, during which they killed the two men, including the headman, and kidnapped the headman’s son. However, the others from the raided village caught up after two days and killed one of the raiders while he was asleep. Despite killing two more men in the resulting fight, Rerebawä did not consider the initial raid to be successful because his side suffered a loss. The kidnapped boy was bullied by the children of the raiders’ village and was eventually killed by one of the men.
Chagnon explores the motivations behind these raids. Most result from accusations of sorcery or the abduction of women. Chagnon describes how captured women are assaulted by those in the raiding party and by members of their village before being given as a wife to one of the men. The only time this does not happen is if the woman is related to any of the men who have kidnapped her. Among the Yanomami, the act of obtaining or keeping women is the leading cause of wars. Chagnon tells the story of his conversation with a headman of a remote village; Chagnon attempted to explain World War II to the headman, but the man could not conceive of a war that did not result from the theft of women or from witchcraft. The headman finally decided that World War II must have resulted from stolen food.
Part 5, Chapter 3 Summary: “A Specific War”
Chagnon gives an example of recent warfare conducted by Monou-teri. He introduces the deceased Damowä, the headman, who was known for his aggressive nature and habit of seducing the wives of other men. This led to frequent fighting within the village. Two particular affairs illustrate the consequences of Damowä’s actions. One resulted in the death of a woman shot by her enraged husband, and the other triggered a club fight that caused Kaobawä’s group to separate from Damowä’s. While Damowä attempted to ally with Patanowä-teri, tensions rose when Damowä’s group abducted the latter’s women during a feast. After Patanowä-teri managed to recover most of them, Damowä threatened further violence. This ended in a revenge raid in February 1966, during which Damowä was killed. Under the Yanomami kinship rules, Kaobawä was Damowä’s brother, so he arranged a raid to avenge Damowä’s death. Kaobawä attacked in April, giving the Monou-teri time to recover and using the beginning of the rainy season to stave off any retaliation. Both sides prepared for the coming conflict. Sensing weakness, some of Patanowä-teri’s other enemies conducted their own raids. They managed to fend off the attacks, then turned their attention back to the Monou-teri. The Monou-teri sought shelter with their allies, who all tired of them after a while. Finally, they regained their courage and joined the raid with Upper Bisaasi-teri. Before the men left, they participated in a ritualized mock raid in the village, which Chagnon describes himself watching. The raiders used war songs, shouts, and simulated vomiting to symbolize the devouring of their enemies. The following day, the men left for the actual raid. They were cautious about their approach to Patanowä-teri. They don’t make a fire to avoid being caught. However, there is the risk of attacks by jaguars or spirits. Upon reaching the enemy territory, the raiders split into groups to wait. Their strategy was to ambush the unwary. If the enemy village acts defensively and travels in groups, the raiders would fire arrows at the village in the hopes of striking someone.
Chagnon turns from the discussion of the raiders’ actions to the anxious atmosphere in the village during their absence. Physical fights began among the women. After a week, Kaobawä and his brother, Shararaiwa, returned, having returned before they reached Patanowä-teri due to Kaobawä’s physical pain. On the way back, a snake bit Shararaiwa. By the time they made it back, both could barely walk. The rest of the raiders returned shortly after, having killed a man and retreated. However, one of their men was severely injured by an arrow. Chagnon got involved after a week of the man’s condition worsening and gave him an aspirin mixed in lemonade. Chagnon noted that the man subsequently recovered.
The men who fired the killing shots during the raid, both brothers of Damowä, underwent ritual purification through the unokaimou ceremony, which absolved them of the act of killing. They were confined in Kaobawä’s part of the shabono and used sticks to eat as they could not touch the food. After their isolation, the sticks and the hammocks they used were tied to trees, signaling the conclusion of the purification. At this point, Kaobawä saw himself as having fulfilled his duty to avenge Damowä. The Monou-teri, however, wanted to continue raiding. Chagnon notes that the combined Monou-teri and Bisaasi-teri performed six raids during his time there, and the Monou-teri also performed their own raids. Before one raid, they retrieved the gourds holding Damowä’s ashes and used them to conduct a mourning ceremony. They then convinced Chagnon to take them to an advantageous spot for raiding by canoe. When he complied, they thanked him, and he notes that this show of gratitude had never happened before. Chagnon concludes by saying that the war was ongoing when he returned a year later and that relations between Monou-teri and the two Bisaasi-teri groups were increasingly hostile.
Part 5 Analysis
The fifth and final part of the book addresses the widespread prevalence of Yanomami violence and warfare. Throughout the text, Chagnon depicts this violence as being central to the culture. In the first chapter of this section, he outlines what he calls “a graded series of aggressive activities” (118). This includes chest-pounding duels, which he gave a firsthand account of in Part 4. It serves as the lowest level of these “aggressive activities” and is one of the duel types used to resolve disputes and maintain social order within the community. Chagnon notes that such duels are not a precursor to raiding and warfare; instead, they are “the antithesis of war, [providing] an alternative to killing” (118). By channeling aggression into controlled, formalized events, the Yanomami create a structured outlet for conflict resolution that avoids the escalation of tensions into uncontrolled violence. However, he does note that “not all of their feuding and squabbles can be considered as war” (118). While the use of these formalized forms of combat may appear to fall in line with the overall picture of Yanomami culture as “primitive” and “violent,” it is crucial to note that duels were legal and in common use in Europe and the United States until relatively recently. In the United States, for example, formalized combat via swords or pistols was often used to settle personal disputes and uphold honor and was considered socially acceptable until the mid-1800s. The impetus for such duels was not so different from that of the Yanomami; both examples represent forms of ritualized conflict resolution. This parallel implies that despite vast cultural differences, disparate human societies often share common strategies for managing social issues.
Chagnon also juxtaposes Eurocentric and Yanomami views on what “warfare” means, especially when he recounts his talks with the headman regarding the commando knife and the causes of World War II. Unlike the scale of conventional Western warfare, the Yanomami people’s wars judge the success of attacks based on the degree of stealth involved. Raids are carefully calculated and focus on individual targets, and a successful raid is one that only results in a few deaths, while even a single death on the allied side constitutes an overall failure of the raid. This level of conflict for the Yanomami generally begins for one or more of three main reasons: women, stolen food, and accusations of witchcraft. These motivations underline Yanomami society’s communal and interpersonal nature, for disputes over essential resources and societal norms take precedence over geopolitical or ideological conflicts. As a result, the headman has no cultural basis with which to understand of the underlying reasons for a vast conflict such as World War II, and when Chagnon denies that his father fought in the war because of women, the man is “visibly disturbed” (124) to hear this. Similarly, when Chagnon also denies that the war was fought over reasons of witchcraft, the man concludes that food is “the only other incident that is deemed serious enough to provoke man to wage war” (124). By including this exchange, Chagnon implies that the headman’s worldview challenges the idea that war is driven by nationalism, territorial disputes, or political ideologies.
Chagnon closes the book with another narrative section that mirrors the structure of Parts 1 and 4, detailing the raid meant to avenge Damowä’s death. He stresses that Damowä’s demise compelled Kaobawä’s active involvement, for as “a classificatory brother to Damowä, [Kaobawä] assumed the responsibility of organizing a revenge raid” (126). While this final section provides insight into how Yanomami warfare is prepared for and undertaken, it also delivers considerable insight into Chagnon himself. Throughout the book, he maintains a detached and observational stance toward the Yanomami, although his interactions with them sometimes cause resentment on both sides. However, he now relates that on the night before the raid, he heard Damowä’s brothers crying over the fallen man and noted that he “lay there and listened, not bothering to tape record it or photograph it or write notes” (135). This shift is significant, as he had previously noted photographing and recording other emotionally intense events, such as the feast in Part 4 and the mock raid in Upper Bisaasi-teri. When he later expresses his sadness to some of the villagers, he notes that the Yanomami believed that he was finally behaving as a proper person, for up until this point, he had not acknowledged their customs or beliefs. The moment therefore represents a crucial shift in his own viewpoint, for he acknowledges the Yanomami not merely as subjects of study, but as individuals with whom he shares a human connection.
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