Chagnon Debate Essay - 1049 Words

Chagnon Debate In Patrick Tierney’s article â€Å"The Fierce Anthropologist,† he discussed the faults that are, or may be, present in Napoleon Chagnon’s anthropological research of the Yanamamo, or â€Å"The Fierce People,† as Chagnon has referred to them in his best-selling book on the people. Due to Chagnon’s unparalleled body of work in terms of quantity and, as many argue, quality, Marvin Harris draws heavily on his research to support his point, which is that the origin of war is ecological and reproductive pressure. One should question Harris’s theories (and all theories), especially in the light of the aforementioned article, but I do not believe his arguments are, or should be, adversely affected by the information presented in this†¦show more content†¦Factions solidify and tensions mount.† (Pg. 77). According to Harris, this almost always precedes Yanamamamo warfare. If Tierney’s accounts concerning warfare and the derivatives of warfare are correct, this makes Harris’s arguments incredible. On the other hand, Tierney’s viewpoint is arguable. As Irven Delfore, a professor of biological anthropology at Harvard, points out in, â€Å"The Fierce Anthropologist,† â€Å"Chag was both first and thorough†¦thorough in the sense that Chag has visited at least 75 Yanamami villages on both sides of the Venezuelan and Brazilian borders†¦Chag gathered very detailed and documented data on the villages – so much so that another investigator could study the same population and come to a different conclusion.†(Pg. 55). This seems to be exactly what Harris has done. In fact, Harris begins the chapter â€Å"Proteins and the Fierce People† by pointing out a different in opinion stating that â€Å"Chagnon – who knows them best – has denied that the high level of homicide within and between villages is caused by reproductive and ecological pressures.† (Pg. 67). Harris goes on to use others, as well as Chagnon’s own eviden ce to disprove his claim. Harris shows how fighting over women is correlated to reproductive pressure, and there is a shortage of meat in the area in which the Yanamamo reside – this is quite obviously a type of ecological pressure. Harris’s use of evidence outside of Chagnon’s own indicates that he has doneShow MoreRelatedLeslie Sponsels Approach to Investigation of the Amazon Basin1632 Words   |  6 Pageslike Napoleon Chagnon, Marvin Harris, or Lizot (in discussing the Yanomamo) seem like they are ignoring the obvious fact which Sponsel focuses on: adaptation. The search for a stable theory of anthropology is difficult when so much of human behavior is adaptation in response to instability or constant change in the surrounding environment. Sponsels approach is therefore less theoretical and more factual and scientific. Although Amazon Ecology and Adaptation discusses and cites Chagnon, Lizot, andRead MoreWhat People Would Be Like Without Western Influences Pulled Nepolean Chagnon1150 Words   |  5 PagesThe curiosity of what people would be like without western influences pulled Nepolean Chagnon in, leading him to the Yanomamo, a tribe in the Amazon who has only recently come in contact with some western culture because of church ministries. The ministries showed up only a few years before Chagnon, meaning that the majority of the Yanomamo have had very little influence from them. Chagnon’s goal was to record all aspects of the Yanomamo’s life, everything from their individual interactions to theRead MoreLooking At Cultural Relativism, By John Ross Essay2815 Words   |  12 Pageswe take a look at Napoleon Chagnon’s experience among the Yanoman tribe of Brazil, you see different examples of cul tural relativism. Take from instance when the people were looking over Chagnon. The men would blow their noses into their hand then proceed in looking over the stranger in their village. When Chagnon asked how to say â€Å"You hands are dirty†, the indians surprised him with a smile then proceeded to spit in their hand, their spit was mixed with tobacco. The simple fact that they were wiping