Ethnography's Challenging Muse: The Yanomami

As the world has gotten progressively smaller and culture more globalized, so to have the sociologists and anthropologists grown more obsessed with finding the last remaining "unadulterated" cultures. This obsession has driven many of these social scientists to the far reaching corners of the globe with discovering and documenting a pure, "privative" culture. One such group that has caught the eye of the discipline and generated much controversy in its wake is the Yanomami of the Amazon.

Reading of the lasting effects of Chagnon's, Lizot's, and other's studies and perspectives on the Yanomami is decidedly more interesting than the people themselves. The reflexive quality they've given the field speaks to the subtle power of those who are studied. The differeing opinions on the depiction of a remote people deep in the rain forest has spurred a discipline wide debate over sensationalism, native rights, and neocolonialism representation.

Chagnon's scholarly ego is clearly one of the main characters of his ethnography and we see the Yanomami through his eyes. This white academic adventurer and his brush with the savage side of culture. He was also a researcher who learned that he had to fight dirty and not always play by the AAA's standard rules. There is a charm to this ethnography as well as its visual companion - however, the darker side of Chagnon's one sided portrayal of the Yanomami as warriors is quite evident.


Lizot's counter ethnography tries to show another side to these people but also gets bogged down by some of his own personal demons. His ethnography was free from a narrator's inflection but took on voyeuristic tendencies to compensate. Lizot also was in breach of ethical codes when he would trade goods in exchange for private time with the little Yanimamo boys. He also didn't distance himself far enough from Chagnon's fierce interpretation, and therefore played into the preexisting interpretations of the Yanomami.

Visual work done in South America on the Yanomami has also yielded similar results. The work of projects like NOVA on PBS has brought a new journalistic publicity to the region. To me this kind of special illustrates the ways in which the Yanomami have already been acculturated into the larger global scheme of things. Below that I place the work of "video artist" Juan Downey and his piece The Laughing Alligator. Personally I was surprised by amateur nature of such a piece and the lack of compelling (distinguishable) footage for having stayed with the Yanimami for eight months. But at this point it's just personal opinion.

No other group has fascinated so many in the field and led to such a reassessment about what we as social scientists are doing in the field and the ramifications it can have on all those outside.