The Yanomamo Culture: Politics and Violence

All cultures have different rules or laws regarding the killing of other people and the punishment they shall receive. In Western culture today, laws are written in stone that prevent people from killing another person. There are very strict laws that will punish a person who is to break these rules of killing, such as life in prison or the death penalty. In contrast, the Yanomamo have no written language and no formal laws. They violate general rules and customs whenever personal gain can be achieved. Since they don’t have a written form of laws as a guiding principle, the rules are broken on a near daily basis. Many different types of violence are a result from the lack of written language and law.

In the Yanomamo culture, the most common reason for killing is the act of revenge on a previous killing. The main reason they cite this revenge is because of “women.” The people who are out for revenge must be careful of an ongoing, viscous circle of revenge back in their direction. The Yanomamo see the revenge killing as an advantageous counterbalance to the killing that was done to them earlier. In addition, the Yanomamo explain that a village that has a reputation for swift retaliation is attacked less frequently, and as a result they do not have as many mortalities. Also, the Yanomamo culture sees revenge as a social benefit, giving men who take part in revenge as having higher reproductive success and higher marital success. These two benefits to the act of revenge show why it is so important in the Yanomamo culture.

Unokais: Those who have killed. In the Yanomamo culture, one who kills must follow a ritual purification called unokaimou. One purpose of this ritual is to avert any supernatural harm on oneself from the soul of the victim. The benefit of being a unokais means you are fierce and respected as one who enacts revenge. Another benefit of the unokais is the higher reproductive success than a non-unokais. This greater success in reproduction is due to the greater success of finding a mate. This is one reason a man would rather become a unokais rather than a non-unokais. The benefit of being a non-unokais would be the benefit of a less risky life of killing and revenge. They live a life with fewer mortal risks than the unokais.

Revenge killing is an integral part of the Yanomamo culture. It has relationships with all aspects of life, including political structure, social status, kinship, and marriage and reproduction. Each of the Yanomamo villages has certain descent groups. Each descent group has one or more political leaders, or patas. These patas can have many wives and a lot of children. They are the headsman of the group and all of them in the given study are unokais. In the tribal world warfare is the extension of kinship obligations by violence because the political system is organized by kinship.  Revenge killing has a big influence on the social status of the Yanomamo culture. Those who participate in revenge killings are seen as higher up on the social ladder. They have more power and influence on social organization among the village people. Kinship relates to the revenge killings and how people are related to each other in their culture. A person is related to another if at least one genealogical connection between them exists. Most individuals, however, are related to their kin in multiple ways. In most villages well over 80% of the members are related to more than 75% of the village. Data from the article shows that members of the village are related to each other more closely than half cousinship. Killing among the Yanomamo culture is very important for the loss of individuals. Nearly 70% of all individuals (males and females) age 40 or older have lost at least one close genetic kin due to violence, and most (57%) have lost two or more. This is a very important factor to why the village people lose so many family members. Revenge killing has a huge affect on the marriage and reproduction behavior of the Yanomamo. Those who participate in the revenge killing, the unokais, have a higher rate of marital success and a higher rate of reproductive success. Both of these facts are due to them having greater success finding a mate to marry and reproduce with. They find greater success finding mates because they either appropriate them forcibly from others, or by customary marriage alliance arrangements in which they seem to be more attractive as mates than non-unokais. As you can see above, revenge killing constitutes a major part of the Yanomamo culture.

I think we must have laws against “anti-social” behavior, like killing other people. Even though these actions are considered ones that no one should want to do, they must have laws instated against them because violence is a potent force in human society and may be the sole driving force of human evolution. As organisms on Earth, we are implanted with traits to promote our survival and reproduction, which means we may have to kill to revive these human needs. Also, I think some people who have emotional disorders can kill other people without realizing the importance of the crime of taking a life. Laws must be present to remind them of the importance of taking a life. I think we should have more stringent laws on anti-social behaviors. This should make it less likely for people to commit these heinous crimes.