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Yanomami: An arena of conflict and aggression in the Amazon
Author(s) -
Sponsel Leslie E.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2337(1998)24:2<97::aid-ab2>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - aggression , neglect , poison control , psychology , perspective (graphical) , social psychology , criminology , sociology , medicine , psychiatry , medical emergency , artificial intelligence , computer science
The Yanomami of Venezuela and Brazil have become an arena of conflict and aggression in the Amazon in at least three respects: their internal aggression; the aggression among anthropologists and others concerned with them; and the external aggression against the Yanomami from Western society. As such, the Yanomami provide a microcosm of several aspects of the anthropology of conflict and aggression. After some background, a critical analysis is developed of 10 problem areas that call into serious question the scientific status of Yanomami as one of the most violent human societies ever known in anthropology: the Yanomami as “the fierce people”; documentation of their aggression; inflation of their aggression as warfare; neglect of cross‐cultural perspective; modern warfare as reversion to tribalization; the negative concept of peace; male sexist bias; the Yanomami as “primitive”; the character of debates; and research priorities and professional ethics. The analysis has more general implications for the epistemology of the study of aggression. Aggr. Behav. 24:97–122, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.