Amazon Villagers (Yanomamo)

Environment and Climate:

They are a group of approximately 20,000 indigenous people who live in villages along the amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. They depend much on the rain forest to grow bananas, gather fruit, and hunt animals and fish. The rainforest is what they rely on to continue in their element as they frequently move to avoid areas that become overused, a practice known as shifting cultivation when the soil becomes exhausted. The Yanomamo are known as hunters, fishers, and horticulturists. They have high heat temperature in weather due to living in tropical rainforest. I could not find an average temperature but after the wet part of the year has ended and severe rain is over, inland pools formed by flooding dry away from their sources. This is when Yanomamo woman easily gather stranded fish. A danger that they face with fish is the high mercury poisoning by fish that have metabolized mercury or plants that have absorbed mercury from the soil. They grow such things as bananas, sugarcane, mangoes, sweet potatoes, papaya, manioc, and other crops. Also due to high temperatures, they live in houses called shabono. They are open to the ground in the center and allows more ventilation into their homes. They are susceptible to heavy damage from rains, winds, and insect infestation. As a result, villagers build new shabonos every 1 to 2 years. When there are hot and horrific conditions, there are infestations of insects and animals. Their population setting is mostly their own people out in the open rainforest where there are no roads, airports, and the only way to get there is the amazon river. They are faced with a “slash-and-burn” horticulture. Large amounts of the rainforest are cut down to make way for power plants, gas plants, and phone polls to name a few. The main example of habitat loss is deforestation, among other environmental consequences are water pollution, air pollution, and global warming. They occupy an area of about 900 km along the Brazilian-Venezuelan border in which a large portion of that land is known for valuable deposits of gold and other precious minerals and timber reserves. For the past 30 years, the survival of the Yanomamo people has been jeopardized by illegal Brazilian gold miners, known as garimpeiros in Portuguese, and commercial loggers. This can eventually lead to a long term stress if they continue to tear down the rainforest which will affect the animals the Yanimamo hunt. The creation of power plants in this area would also affect the people directly with the pollution. This affects their health and way of life. A few ways to help lessen the affects of these problems is to move farther away from these constructions but still close enough to where the animals migrate to be able to hunt. Also to stay near the river to fish and keep hydrated. In my opinion, they should try mining some of the gold within that area to possibly be able to buy some of that land and not give others the option to take it from them to create some of these issues.

Language and Gender:

Their language is Yanomaman. It is a small language family of northwestern Brazil and southern Venezuela. They have many variations and dialects of the language, such that the people from different villages cannot always understand each other. The origins of the language are unknown. They have a written language in which they have a distinction between oral and nasal vowels. If a vowel is phonetically nasalized, then all vowels after it in the word are also nasalized.

The gender roles of the Yanomami people involve the woman cultivating plantains and cassava in gardens as their main crops. Men do the heavy work of clearing areas of forest for the gardens. The woman are responsible for the domestic duties and chores, excluding hunting and killing game for food. Although the woman do not hunt, they do work in gardens and gather small sources as food. Woman are expected to carry 70 to 80 pound loads of crops on their backs during harvesting. In the mornings while men are off hunting, the women and young children go off in search of termite nests and other grubs, which will later be roasted at the family hearths. While some women gather sources of food, other women go off and fish for several hours during the day. Women are expected to bear and raise many children, who are expected to help their mothers with domestic chores from a very young age, and mothers rely very much on help from their daughters. The women are not allowed to do certain things as the men such as involve them in many ceremonies that they prepare. The women make alcoholic beverages for men during these ceremonies. The use of hallucinogenic drugs are very common, however women are forbidden from involving themselves in this practice. The women do, however, participate in the practice of endocannibalism. In this practice, the Yanimami people consume the bones of a deceased kinsman.

 “The Blessed Curse” is a touching story by R.K. Williamson in which she/he was born intersexed. She/he struggled through life confused on what to believe with their own thoughts and having to deal with the confusion given by others. The person that kept her/him sane was her grandmother with touching words,  “a great strength that girls never have, yet a gentle tenderness that boys never know” and

“too pretty and beautiful to be a boy only and too strong to be a girl only”. The Yanimami people would have difficulty accepting this same situation. They are very reliant on their gender rolls and how they proceed in their culture. The men seem to be more ruthless when it comes to their children as they don’t spend as much time with them as the women do. Williamson said “Native Americans believe that everything has a spirit and purpose” and that “none are superior”. These are words and guides that many cultures should follow and would allow more people to be themselves and not try and be what society expects them to be.

Economic System:

During the rainfall season the Yanomami men spend much of their time fishing in the large amazon river. Its as soon as that season is over when the Yanomami people have the best harvest in overall crops. They are able to grow bananas, sugarcane, mangoes, sweet potatoes, papaya, manioc, and other crops.  The men hunt for game like peccary, tapir, deer and monkey, and often use curare to poison their prey. Although hunting is only 10% of Yanomami food, amongst men it is considered the most prestigious of skills and meat is greatly valued by everyone. No hunter ever eats the meat that he has killed. Instead he shares it out among friends and family. In return, he will be given meat by another hunter. Woman tend the gardens where they grow around 60 crops which account for about 80% of their food. They also collect nuts, shellfish and insect larvae. Wild honey is highly prized and the Yanomami harvest 15 different kinds. The women commonly use plants such as manioc to turn into flat cakes, which they cook over a small pile of coals. The women cultivate these gardens until they are no longer fertile, and then move their plots. Plantains and grubs are common sources of food, and are staples in the Yanomami diet. The traditional Yanomami diet is very low in salt. Their blood pressure is characteristically among the lowest of any demographic group. For this reason, the Yanomami have been subject of studies seeking to link hypertension to sodium consumption. The Yanomami celebrate rituals in good harvest with a big feast to which nearby villages are invited. The Yanomami villagers gather huge amounts of food, which helps to maintain good relations with their neighbors. They also decorate their bodies with feathers and flowers. During the feast, the Yanomami eat a lot, and women dance and sing late into the night. The surplus the Yanomami people have are the harvest that they grow. During the dry season part of the year, they don’t normally have enough to trade away but still have enough to survive on. Their best way of currency as of late has been their land. The happen to settle on top of several gold mines in which they don’t seem to care much for. They don’t like to give up where they reside but often they don’t have a choice and they take what they can. They trade with many different local villages. This can be woven baskets, plants, meat that they hunted. Their trades are called “no mraiha”.

Cultures Marriage and Kinship:

In the Yanomami culture marriage ceremonies are almost non existent and are not celebrated in any way. They believe in Polygamous. It is not uncommon for a man to have more than one wife. Polygamy is commonly practiced and woman are expected to accept this. The elder wife in a marriage usually has precedence over the others and can act as a boss or a superior over the other wives. The husband is not suppose to show favorites, due to jealousy between wives. A girl can be promised to a man as young as age 5. But they cannot be married off until atleast her first menstrual period. After the first menstrual period, it is common for the girl to be handed off by her parents to one of the men, usually a relative. The most common marriages in their culture are cross cousin marriages. Most prefer to marry within the tribe to avoid any future violent breakouts between tribes. Violence and abuse between couples in their culture are very common. If a woman feels she is unable to bear to live with her husband, she may flee and live with her brothers. Women are not allowed to have any sexual relations with another women but men can with another. If a women is caught with another women or masturbating, they will be severely injured or even death. Polygamous families consist of a large patrifocal family unit based on one man, a smaller matrifocal subfamilies. Life in the village is centered around the small, matrilocal family unit, whereas the larger patrilocal unit has more political importance beyond the village. The Yanomami kinship is based on the Iroquis system of kinship terminology. The father and father’s brother are referred to by a single term, as are the mother and mother’s sister. However, the fathers sister and the mothers brother are given separate terms. Tracing ancestry through the male, the Yanomami consider males more important or valuable than women.  Leadership positions determine the village’s relationship with other villages and are largely the result of kinship and marriage patterns. The leaders, called “big men,” come from the largest kinship group within the village. They clear gardens, plant crops, collect wild foods and hunt. They are also peacemakers and warriors. Because peacemaking takes forcefulness, they are often referred to as “fierce”. They can inherit political position but as far as leadership or becoming chief, no. They do not inherit leadership, it is earned. 

Social and Political Organizations:

The Yanomamo villages are a political entity, free to make war or peace with other villages. Coalitions between villages are important: nevertheless, such coalitions then to be fragile and ephemeral. The Yanomamo are egalitarian people, age, sex, and personal accomplishments are important in status differentiation. High status is acquired through valor in combat, accomplished oratory, and expertise in shamanism. Local descent groups play important roles in regulating marriages and settling disputes within the village. The village headman is the dominant political leader and comes from the largest local patrilineage. When a village is large or when two local descent groups are approximately equal in size, a village may have several headmen. Concerted action requires the consensus of adult males. An individual is free, however, to desert from collective action if it suits him. Conflicts typically arise from accusations of adultery, failure to deliver a betrothed woman, personal affronts, stinginess, or thefts of coveted garden crops. Primary vengeance is the lineage, but nonkin have some obligation to assist since coresidence with a feuding is seen as implicit support of the faction by the faction’s enemies. Warfare has a profound effect on politics and settlement size and location. This often affects trades and relationships and coalitions with other tribes. There are positives and negatives to their violence. Negative being that men usually initiate the violence and woman are often the victims physical abuse and anger. War also leads to rape for woman when other tribes raid. The violence is a positive when it comes to seperations and respect between tribes. Without war to test them, there would be no barriers between them.

Religion and Art:

They practice the religion of animism, which means they believe the plants and animals around them have animal spirits. These spirits are called xapiripe. In order to see them, one must use a hallucinogen called yopo. The Shaman are masters that enter the realm between the human spirit and animal worlds with the use of a powerful hallucinegic drug called ebene. Only men become Shamans and are called shabori or hekuri. According to their belief, there are four levels of reality. The Yanomami believe things tend to fall downward to a lower layer. The duku ka misi, or top layer, is thought to be most pristine and tender. They believe that many things originate in this layer. The next layer is hedu ka misi, is known as the sky layer. It has trees, gardens, villages, animals, plants, and most importantly, the souls of the deceased. Everything that exist on earth is said to have a counterpart on the third layer. The bottom surface of the layer is said to be what the Yanomami on earth actually see. They depend much on these layer to contribute to their daily lives. Their beliefs play a big roll in the previous topics including violence, marriage, and politics. A lot of the art that the Yanomamo people use is painted on their bodies or seen as body art. During rituals, the woman use body art, music (singing), and performance (dance). The men use art when in war by using it as signs in forms of their expressions.

 Conclusion:

The Yanomami people have been affected greatly by other cultures as I mentioned in the opening post. They often have to move their village due to certain segments of the rainforest being cut down. Not only does this cause them to move locations but also causes damage to their health with the pollution coming from power plants being built. I would consider their culture to be healthy overall. There doesn’t seem to be real danger in regards to them being extinct with warfare, health issues, or politics. They don’t seem to have a major impact in the modern world except for the goldmines that they are surrounded by and the giant rainforest that loggers are cutting down. They seem to mainly impact the surrounding countries around them.
Here is a list of some of the sources used for my blog:
http://shotgunchelle.hubpages.com/hub/Yanomamo
http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/yanomami.htm
http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami/wayoflife
http://www1.broward.edu/~hsorkin/Lib-Arts/Projects/Fall2002/Hottinger/culture.html