The Yanomamo have different rules for killing than most
cultures. They believe it is morally permissible to take part in revenge
killing. This process is when a life is taken in revenge for something that
person did. These revenge killings may be wrong in certain people’s eyes, but
that is because of ethnocentrism. These people are seeing the Yanomamo culture
through the eyes that their culture is superior. Blood revenge is the most
commonly cited causes of violence and warfare in primitive societies, according
to Napoleon A. Chagnon. A revenge killing is a retaliatory killing in which the
initial victim’s close kinsmen conduct a revenge raid on the members of the
current community of the initial killer. The Yanomamo go on raids where they
have ten to twenty men go out on a sometimes five-day trip to find the tribe
that they will raid. The group most of the time back down due to a dream or
premonition of bad fortune or if they can’t find the tribe. Some members of the
party drop out of the raid because they were “sick” or “injured” when really
they wee frightened. On the occasion were the raid does find it’s target the
group then shoots arrows at the first man they see and retreat as quickly as
possible so as to gain as much distance as possible before the victim is found.
Obtaining the status of Unokais is
important to members of the Yanomamo tribe because it means that other people
will fear and respect them. The title will prove that the person is brave and
strong. This will allow for safety against being killed and also provides
safety for kinsmen. A non-unokais
would be a much easier target for a revenge killing and their loved ones would
be at risk of loss. The revenge killings majorly take place of the law
enforcement type structure politically. The killings also allow the members of unokais a higher social status. Revenge
killings allow the man to provide protection for his kinship and himself.
Marriage and reproduction is affected by these killings because the more
powerful men get more women and have the ability to take women from other
weaker men. We should have law against something that nobody should want to do
because if it was deemed “acceptable” the human race would eventually revert
back to the instincts that these Yanomamo people have. These people are a prime
example of what is possible without rule and structure in place.
How do these revenge killing directly compare to our legal system and killings that occur in Western cultures? Differences and similarities?
ReplyDeleteGood discussion on the background of revenge killings.
Can you show the direct connections between the system of revenge killings and the various cultural factors? You touched on each point but didn't make the connection.
Good job pulling the issue of instinct. That is precisely the point. We shouldn't want to kill, but sometimes our instinctual behaviors have greater influence on how we act. Laws are there to deter acting on these instincts for personal gain.
I think your comparison of Yanomamo revenge killing to other culture's law enforcement is well put. In our society we have law and punishment that acts to keep people in line. It makes sense that since the Yanomamo people do not have such an intricate law system, they do an eye for an eye kind of concept instead. I also agree with the idea that killing can be instinctive. When someone is effected so greatly by a death of a close relationship, it is natural to want to seek revenge.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Yanomamo have no written rules or structures in place, I think maybe it could be said that revenge killings are a form of unwritten rule. If you kill someone in one tribe, that tribe will in return kill someone in your tribe. While it is instinctual to want to do this, perhaps the Yanomamo do have some form of unwritten rule about killing.
ReplyDeletei totally agree with you about if we didnt have certain laws people would revert to the yanomamo ways of life. If everyone lived that way I think that we would have way more warfare and the world would be a very hostile enviroment to live in.
ReplyDelete