The Fierce People: Cultural Shock

    The excerpts from Yanomamo: The Fierce People are part of a story where the author, Napoleon Chagnon, recounts his nineteen month stay with the Yanomamo Indian tribe and the culture shock (a state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment) he was faced with during that time. There is very little known about the Yanomamo society (people who share a culture and territory), who live in Southern Venezuela. It is not certain how many people make up it’s population, but Chagnon, also an anthropologist, estimates it at about ten thousand.
    One of the first thing that captured Chagnon’s attention, and by which he was shocked, was the way the Yanomamo value aggression. During his fieldwork, Chagnon discovered that is was socially acceptable for the men in the tribe to, not only trade and share “their” women, but that they can physically abuse their women as well. This type of machismo (a strong or exaggerated sense that courage, strength, and entitlement are attributes or concomitants of masculinity) is meant to be regarded by the other men as a man’s  potential for violence and a warning to treat him with respect and caution.
    Another difference in cultures (shared beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular group) that Chagnon noted in his book was that men pass on their wives to their brothers and share sexual services with their brother’s wives. Although this seems to be socially acceptable, they will leave wives who are unfaithful.
    It took Chagnon about six months to adapt (an alteration of structure or function of an organism or any of its parts that result from natural selection and by which the organism becomes better fitted to survive in its environment) to the uncomfortable ways of the Yanomamo’s daily life and their customs, one of which was a taboo (a prohibition or interdiction of anything; exclusion from use or practice) that could have easily cause him much trouble had he not adapted and found a way around it. His main purpose for living among the Yanomamo was to obtain their genealogy. Due to their taboo of not speaking the deceased’s names, and the rage of the tribe members’ response to this taboo, it was difficult to obtain the information. Chagnon soon understood this and found informants that were willing to break the taboo in secret for payment.
    The Yanomamo’s culture differs from ours in many ways. Their hygiene isn’t as highly regarded as ours; we will cringe at a person’s smell if its been long enough since they last bathed. Although many confused men in our society still view wife beating as a demonstration of their strength, many men will stand up and defend a battered woman.
    Another difference between our cultures is that although swinging is becoming more popular, in our society, it is not socially acceptable to share spouses with anyone, least of all with a family member like it is with the Yanomamo Indians. Unlike the Yanomamo Indians, in our society we have become too accustomed to microwaves and “ready-in-3-minutes” meals.
    It also seems that by comparison, our society values more obtaining possessions by merit rather than by stealing or begging for it. The Yanomamo Indians hassled  Chagnon for tools and favors when ever he had accepted food, which to us is being polite to our host.

    As a sign of respect, the Yanomamo Indians did not speak the names of the dead. In our society, and in many other cultures, families pray and use the person’s name not only on their anniversaries of being dead and on their would have been birthdays, but in everyday life. Some, such as my mother, have reminders such as pictures and little shrines of dead family members.
    The Yanomamo Indians have many differences with our culture. In his fieldwork, Chagnon was able to document some of these for future generations to understand and appreciate. Although I somewhat understand why they do some of the things they do, such as why they beat their wives as a way to warn other men and not wanting to speak a dead relatives name as a sign of respect, I can’t say I appreciate their customs. I believe this is because I have been raised to believe that I should shower daily and that men and women are, or should be equal. I’ve been lucky enough to have been born into a family where my mother has never had to endure a beating from my father. And so, I will never find it acceptable or appreciate it.