Life Among the Yanomami builds on literature and the author's personal experience of the northern Brazil people, the Mucajai Yanomami, with whom he lived from 1958 to 1967 and whom he has since frequently visited. The result is a rich and well-rounded understanding of this famously isolated people. While considerable detail of traditional way of life is provided, particular attention is devoted to the realities of social change arising from initial exposure to missionaries (of whom the author was one) to the more recent pressures from mining and the intervention of government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Family and village life, health and health care, demography, politicization (that includes Yanomami criticism of Western Society), and on cultural survival are among the key issues explored by Peters—compelling issues for indigenous peoples the world over.
Preface
List of Maps and Figures
Glossary of Terms
1. Yanomami, Xilixana, and the Anthropological Approach
Commonalities and Contrasts
The Clash of Cultures
The Yanomami: Why Study Them?
Cross-Cultural Research: The Academic Component
The Author’s Own Journey
Recent Xilixana History: The Basics
Part I The Xilixana Way of Life
2. Field Entry, Language-Learning and Cultural Surprises
The Challenge of Language
Contrasts in Culture: Startling Differences
Data-Gathering: Pursuits of Peril and Pleasure
The Researcher in the Field
3. Village Life and Social Culture: Basic Patterns
Village Composition and Decision-Making
Death, Burial, and Cremation
The Yãimo
Village Fissions, Population, and Distribution
4. Everyday Life: Food and Child Care, Hunting and Fishing
Daily Village Life
Hunting and Fishing
The Products of the Land
Agriculture
The Tools of Life
5. Family and Social Organization
Relationship Terminology and Acceptable Sexual Partners
Marriage
Feuds
Conception and Birthing
Bride Service and Bride Payment
Marriage Fragility and Termination
Gender Roles and the Status of Women
6. Socialization and Life Stages
Stage I: Total Dependence
Stage II: Early Childhood
Stage III: Later Childhood
Stage IV: Premarriage; and Puberty and Marriage
Stage V: Male—First Family of Procreation; Female—Childbearing and Childrearing
Stage VI: Male—Second Family of Procreation; Female—Post-Childrearing
Stage VII: Appendage
Summary of Stages in the Life Cycle
7. Myths, Spirits and Magic
Myths
Spirits
Alawalik Substances
Taboos
Part II Past and Present: The Xilixana Then and Now
8. The Precontact Period: A Time of Isolation
Learning Xilixana History
The Early History
The Xilixana and Other Encounters
Quest for Tools
9. Postcontact History: Enter the Missionaries
Missionary Contact with the Xilixana
Land Expedition to the Aica
The Further History of the Mission Organization
Missionary Relations
10. The Missionary Presence: Translation, Literacy and Social Effects
Daily Life and Mission Tasks
Maintaining the Mission Station
Literacy Teaching
The Impact of Christian Teaching
The Missionary Presence: Mixed Results
11. "Warfare," Raids, and Revenge
The Roots of “Warfareâ€
Intervillage Killings
The Motivations for Violence and Warfare
Clashes with Miners
The Cultural Norms of Violence
Part III Social Change
12. Adaptation in a Precapitalist Society: Agents of Change
The Brazilian Influence
Other Yanomami
Missionaries
Missionaries and the Dynamics of Change
13. Health as an Agent of Change
Xilixana Modes of Treating Illness
Missionaries and Health Care
Health Treatment Facilities and Organizations
The Treatment of Diseases
The Struggle for Yanomami Health Control: Remaining Questions
14. Broader Considerations in the Study of Social Change
The Dynamics of Yanomami Social Change
Change Agents, and Direct Effects
Exchange and Reciprocity
15. Reflections on Social Change among the Yanomami
Culture and Social Change
Social Change: Problems, Bias, and Ethics
A response to Change among the Yanomami
The Clash of Values Revisited
Conclusion
Appendix: Language-Learning
References
Index
