1) The Yanomamo do not have any written language or laws within their society that protects people from violent deaths. They do however have a mutual understanding that killing other in retaliation or revenge killing is acceptable. If a person is killed by another person from a different tribe, it is acceptable for the kin of the victim to form raids to kill in swift retaliation. The person who first committed the murder may or may not be killed during these raids. When a tribe is raiding another tribe, any male is a prime target of the raiders. After the raiding, the group returns to the home village and performs unokais rituals that give them spiritual protection from the spirits of their victims. This is how justice is served within the Yanomamo.
In western society killing is only acceptable in self defense. An example of this is a home invasion where a person's life or family may be in danger. However, revenge killing is not acceptable in western societies. Although the victims of the crime may angrily disagree, there is a judicial process that must be undertaken before a punishment for a murderer is decided. The punishments include a large amount of time or even life in prison. Sometimes, the punishment for the crime is death but this is not practiced by all states. To avoid the death penalty, people who stand trial for murder tend to present themselves before a judge as clinically insane. Some of these cases may have legitimate people with some kind of mental problem. During the trails, a judge and jury are given the power to pass judgement for the person standing trial. The difference between the Yanomamo and western society is that the Yanomamo's revenge killing is not only acceptable, but also a community effort. In western society, killing is avoided even after a person commits murder in most cases.
Process of Revenge Killings
2) The Yanomamo go through a process of violence before revenge killings occur. This process consists of shouting
matches, chest pounding duels, side slapping duels, club
fights, fights with axes and machetes, and shooting with
bows and arrows with the intent to kill each other. With each step in the process, violence gradually increases until the Yanomamo begin killing. These actions are started by many things that western society would deem inappropriate such as killing over sexual jealousy. If a Yanomamo male is considered cowardly because of his lack of killing, other males may try to sexually seduce their wives. This causes tension and eventually death for one of the Yanomamo males. In western cultures, jealousy is seen as an emotion that can be harmful or fun to play around with.
The Status of Unokais
3) Unokais are people among the Yonomamo who have killed. Within the Yonomamo, gaining the status of Unokais has more benefits than disadvantages. One benefit that comes from becoming unokais is the reputation of being fierce. This reputation serves as a form of protection from other tribes that may want to attack them. The more unokais there are in a trible, the less likely of them becoming under attack from another tribe. Another benefit of the reputation of unokais are less men who will try to seduce the warrior's spouse. For fear of death, other Yonomamo males will try to avoid the spouses of unokais and instead target the spouses of males who are not unokais. The males who have become unokais have also a higher chance to reproduce. Being a non-unokais also has its own benefits however because they are not constantly risking their lives raiding other villages. Tribes sometimes travel far distances that could take days to reach another village to raid. There is also no guarantee that they will make it back from the trip to their home village. If a unokais dies, then the male who has chosen to not become unokais may seduce the former spouse. Non-unokais are also often mocked and ridiculed because of their unwillingness to fight. Because the benefits outweigh the risk, a Yanomamo man may choose to become unokais.
The Relationships between Revenge Killing and Yanomamo Culture
4) Revenge killing does not only contribute to the retaliation motives of the Yanomamo, but it also contributes to the political power of the head of the tribes. The head of the tribes are the ones who decide if revenge killing will be carried out by his village. These villages raid other villages to not only assert their power, but also to force the women of their tribe to join the raider's tribe. With more women in a tribe, the unokais have more women to marry and bear their children. This in turn also adds to the social status of Yanomamo tribes who have many unokais in the village. The Yanomamo tribe leaders practice polygamy which allows high reproduction which adds a higher amount of members to a tribe. In many ways, the people who live among another in a village are related because of the repetitive intermarriages. These large kin groups then protect and avenge each other in revenge killings when one of their own is murdered. Revenge killing has become apart of the Yanomamo culture and contributes highly to it.
Laws Against Anti-Social Behaviors
5) We need laws against anti-social behaviors such as killing so that we do not live in constant fear for our lives. The Yanomamo begin violent actions with just a thought of another village practicing some sort of black magic on them. These ideas are dangerous in the Yanomamo culture because they start fights and even wars that causes deaths on both sides. With laws against killing however, there is a process by which a person must go through a trail and be found to be the person who committed the crime. It is important to note that revenge killing does not have to include the person who committed the murder. This means that the person who killed put their families' lives in danger from retaliation. Not all people kill on purpose, sometimes it is accidental such as in a car crash whether a drunk driver was involved or not. Accidents happen and unintentional consequences follow, and this is why laws are put in place so that the party responsible faces the appropriate consequences.
Hello Randy,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your blog, you made it very clear and understandable about how the Yanomamo people believe and their culture. I also agree that we need laws against people who have to kill but do not want to because we would have fear and gives justice to those accused of killing. For example, people in war fighting for their right and national freedom have to kill for self-defense. They may not want to kill but sometimes have to, to save their own lives and fight for justice. Very good post and great job on your images, it brought more attention to your reading.
Hello Randy, I liked that you included examples and captivating photographs with each question. You had a great example for a way that western societies might rule out killing as okay and this, like you said is only in those life or death situations when someone is attacking you or your family and it is self defense. I do agree that sometimes it is not about wanting to do something it is about whether you need to do something or not and this is where the fine line is for what is right or wrong so if there are no laws to abide by it can be tricky to follow when faced with difficult decisions, great post!
ReplyDeleteChloe
Great images!
ReplyDelete"The Yanomamo do not have any written language or laws within their society that protects people from violent deaths. They do however have a mutual understanding that killing other in retaliation or revenge killing is acceptable."
I've been curious about this emphasis on "written laws" in posts tonight. Humans have lived millions of years without written language... why are we assuming that that means they didn't have laws of behavior and punishment, even without having them written down? Must stories be written to be stories? ;-) Must laws be written to be laws?
Good point on the death penalty. I've overlooked that in my responses tonight. We also see that killing is an expected part of war, and we have people who are authorized to kill if others threaten the welfare of others, namely police officers and federal agents.
Something to consider... students often look at the Yanomamo with something akin to horror, but what might the Yanomamo think of our system of justice? Might they not be horrified that we prevent victims of crimes from carry out revenge on those who committed those crimes? That might seem as cruel and barbaric to them as their killings do to us. Watch the ethnocentrism!
There is a cyclical nature to these killings, correct? After the initial revenge killing, what is expected of the kin of the man killed? How does this cycle end?
Excellent comparison of the costs/benefits of unokais vs. non-unokais. Well explained.
In your fourth section, make sure you understand the difference between a kin group and a village. In general, there will tend to be an inter-relatedness within a village, but kin groups can extend far beyond village boundaries. A non-unokais will have limited kin, probably just within their village. A headman (a high-level unokais) will have multiple marriages, and with each marriage, his kinship network expands to include the kin of his wives, and this is likely into other villages. So when you talk about the impact of revenge killings on the Yanomamo, it is more accurate to recognize the impact works along kinship lines, not just within a village.
"We need laws against anti-social behaviors such as killing so that we do not live in constant fear for our lives. "
But that begs the original question. Why do we need laws against behaviors that no one should want to do? The answer is that the question makes an assumption based upon cultural mores and ignores the fact that our behaviors are often rooted in something much deeper and based in our biology. Behaviors, in general, don't happen out of the blue. They occur because those behaviors benefit the person doing those behaviors in some way. So do people in our society who kill do so because they receive some benefit? Certainly those who kill in defense of property, family or themselves receive a benefit, but how about a thief or a murderer? Often the murder happens in the process of obtaining some type of resources. You also see gang related murders that follow a pattern similar to the unokais system, which assigns power and status benefits to those taking part, correct? So we have laws against these behaviors not because no one should want to do them, but because people can benefit from doing them, and we need to provide a cost (imprisonment) to balance the benefits to deter these behaviors.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog, I also liked all the pictures. I agree that Western societies killing is acceptable, but I disagree that Western cultures do not practice revenge killings. The way I see it the judicial system is for revenge killings. It's just a longer process but the ending result could be the same, the individual that committed the offense is removed from society, culture, or tribe either by death or isolation.
You made a good point in your conclusion. When someone is killed in Western society, the suspected murderer is put on trial to determine whether or not they are actually guilty of committing the crime. But in Yanomamo culture, there is no process to determine innocence or guilt. This is very curious to me, as you would think they would have a way to ensure the person is guilty before killing them and their kin as revenge, possibly starting a war.
ReplyDelete